






































































































































































































































/ 


LETTERS 


ON THE 


IRISH NATION 


WRITTEN 


DURING A VISIT TO THAT KINGDOM, 


IN THE AUTUMN OF THE YEAR I799> 


Qoalem decet effe Sororem# 


/ 


By GEORGE COOPER, Efq. 

. \ 

OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF LINCOLN’S INN. 



THE SECOND EDITION 


LONDON: 


PRINTED BY T. BENSLEY, BOLT COURT, 

, I 

FOR J. WHITE, AT HORACE S HEAD, FLEET-STREET. 


M.DCCCI. 


/ 









1 








• • 

N . ' ' ; ' ’ . 

- 




» 




' 






•> 






' 


- - ,, 








ADVERTISEMENT 


tO THE 

r 

SECOND EDITION* 


.— — 

i 


1 iiE very flattering reception whic^ 
this work has already received from the 
public, induces the author to republifli 
it in its prefent improved ftate. 

Since the publication of the firft edi¬ 
tion, however, which is now a twelve- 

Jc W , ' > \ 

month, one of the moft leading circum- 
ftances upon which it profelfes to treat, 
has undergone a moft important change. 

This is the nature of the connection be- 

/ # 

tween Great Britain and Ireland. The 

a * 



I 


IV ADVERTISEMENT. 

> , ' 

. 4 

I ' » 

Legiflative Union has received the final 
fan£tion of the parliaments of both king¬ 
doms. But there is nothing in that mea- 
fure, or in the confequences which have 
already enfued from it, that at all weakens 
the reafonings contained in the following 
pages. On the contrary, thofe effects, tri¬ 
fling as they yet are, operate as a power¬ 
ful confirmation of them. I therefore 
prefent this Second Edition to the pub- 

f ‘ ; * 

lie with increafed courage. 

Neither have I neglected any thing 
which could render this impreflion as cor¬ 
rect and perfect as poffible. I have not 

• V 

only carefully watched the flow operation 

i 

of varying circumftances, but have alfo lif- 

* ' , .j . J 4 ' » ‘ " m 

tened to that free and enlarged difeuffion, 

both public and private, which preceded 

/ ^ 

and accompanied them. From the addi¬ 
tional lights which this examination af- 



V 


ADVERTISEMENT. V 

' * , ' i 

\ * i 

forded me, as well as from fubfequent 

✓ 

reflection, I have corrected every thing 
which appeared to me objectionable in 
the Firft Edition of the work, and added 
fiich frefh matter as I thought would 
tend to remove every poflible obfcurity. 

It only remains for me to take this op¬ 
portunity of acknowledging my obliga¬ 
tions to my particular friend James 
Clarke, Efq. a Barrifler of the Middle 
Temple, who accompanied me in my ex- 
cur fion to Ireland, and whofe teftimony 
therefore, if it were wanting in fupport of 
thejuftice of the obfervations made there, 

, I am more particularly enabled to adduce, 
becaufe they were in fome meafure fug- 
gefled by himfelf. 

i, 

London , October i S ? 1800. 

* § * 



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I 



THE CONTENTS. 


Introduction - - - PagexiH 

, ’•* ' '# * . 

LETTER I. 

Weljh 'four—Short Account of the Climate of Ire¬ 
land, and of the General Phyfical Appearances 
of that Kingdom—Char alter of the People — In¬ 
quiry into the Caufes of National Char alters — 
Phyfical and Moral Caufes—Differences of Opi¬ 
nion on this Subject—DiftinClion of Ranks in 
Ireland—Colonifts with their Defendants , and 
Native Irifto or Aborigines — i. I r aits of Cha¬ 
racter wherein they rejemble each other — Prin¬ 
ciples in Human Nature varioujly combined in 
different Nations—A Metaphyficd View of the 

a 4 ' 



CONTENTS. 


( 

i 

• • • 

Vlll 


Irijh Char a Her—Popular Vanity — Courage — 
Choler and Impetuofity — Hofpitality—Love of 
Gaming—the DeflruLive Excejfes to which it is 
carried in Ireland- -2. Higher Clafs of People 
confidered —- their Refinement — Education — 
Lawyers—compared with Englifh ones-—Irijh 
Gallantry — Immorality , and the Cauje of it of- 

** 1 _ « 

V • / 

figned — Virtue of the Women — Religion —* 

3. Lower Clefs confidered—have been long fat ion- 

' ' ' l - / 

ary—Rfemhlance in Manners of all uncivilized 

Nations—Irijh Peafan try - -Lodging — Diet — 
Dfpofition—their grofs Superftiiion—Indolence 
—Conclufion of the Subjell 3 and Comp arif on of 

4. 

, \ 

Irijh Refinement with that of the Englifh 

Page 1—79 

* \ ■ 


-LETTER II. 

, • ' . 

* *• • 

Political Difcords — Government—Iheories of Poli¬ 
tics examined—Lwo Rules for determining the 
Prallical Merits of any Government—Irijh 

1 * , * f\ # . . 

Arifiocracy—* No Middle Rank of People — 

% o 
. » **-> 


\ 




\ 


CONTENTS. ix 

‘ i 

Some Account of Dublin and its 'Public Edifices— 

\Tranjition from the City to the Country —Op- 

\ 

prefifion of the Peafantry—Examination of the 

Monarchial Part of the Government—of the Be- 

/ • 

mocratic , idle. - - - - Page 80—120 

LETTER III. 

Religious BifiinCiions — Hiftorical Sketch of the 
Origin of their Religious Animofities — Pro- 

( mm f i j J i 

t eft ant Colonifts and Catholic Natives — Situa- 

1 

tion of the Catholics confidercd—P rot eft ants — 
Diffe?iters — Effects of Intolerancy — Religious 
1 *fits difcuffed-—Idea of a Balance of Religious 

Inter efts ------ 121—164 

;; • ,• * 

LETTER IV. 

ObfePt of Government to provide for the Necefti- 
ties of the People—to be done by encouraging In- 
duftry—Agriculture a leading Re four ce—its low 
State in Ireland a principal Caufe of the Poverty 



CONTENTS, 


% 

of the People—Means which ought to be taken 
to encourage it—Jecuring to the Farmer the 

Fruits of his Labour—Bounties given by Le~ 

/ 

giflature on Exportation—the Policy of that Syf- 
tern examined and recommended — Granaries — 
Advantages of Irijh Soil and Climate—General 
Want of Employment—Manufactures—Inland 
Trade—Foreign Commerce—Parochial Provi - 
fionfor the Poor wanted in Ireland 

Page 165—231 

S' 

. s 

LETT,ER V, 

/ 

Inquiry into Caufes of the late Rebellion—Different 
Opinions on that Point—Primary Caufes and 
proximate ones—State of the Parties fince his 
Majeftfs Acceffion—Rife of the Orange Fac¬ 
tion, and Confpiracy of the United Irijhmen— 
French Principles, how far they influenced the 
latter—their attempts to fir up the Catholics — 
Organization of the Conf piracy—their Declare 
6 ‘ - 


' CONTENTS. 


P 

XI 


Hons—Means by which they Jucceeded in bring¬ 
ing over the Catholics — Pefult of their Machi¬ 
nations—Triumph of the Orange Party — Gene- 

V * 

ral Review of the Rebellion - «- 232—268 

v » • • * 

LETTER VI, 

'•»«.>*» I*- him.. •*- 

1 ' 

Caufes which led to the acknowledgment of the Iriflo 

1 * * I 

Confitution of 1782 —of the Connection 
with Great Britain before that Time—Political 

Conferences of their Independence—An infuff- 

* \ 

dent Meafure—Proofs of a Temporizing Spirit 

\ 

in the Parliament—in Religious a Commercial and 
Agricultural Affairs—Two diflinguifhing Efells 
— Increafe of Corruption , &c. - 269—298 

LETTER VIF. 

\ 

Review of Caufes which lead to a Legiflative 
Union with Great Britain — Advantages of 
Union to.the Government of the Country, to the 
Religious Differences of the People y and to In - 


• « 


Contents. 


i 


xu 


duftry and Commerce—Military Policy which 
has hitherto 'prevailed in the Government of 

Ireland examined—True Source of Public Power 

» * r 

and Individual Happinefs to a Nation—Prefent 
imp erf eSI Connexion of the Two Kingdoms — Opi- 

i 

nions of the People of Ireland on the Meafure of 
Union—Conclufion - - Page 299—254 





1 






1 

; 


V 


I 


/ ' 


* 


.J 


INTRODUCTION. 

% 


It has often been to me a fubjeCt of 
fome furprife, when I have heard Irifh 
affairs fo much the topic both of public 
and private difcuffion as they have been 
of late, that the country itfelf fhould 
have been fo little vifited by travellers 
from Great Britain. The moft remote 
corners of the Hebrides have been of¬ 
ten explored, and the characters of our 
Northern neighbours an hundred times laid 
open to Englifh curiofity. But though 
the name of Ireland is moft familiar to 
our ears, yet the kingdom and its inhabi- 


( 


INTRODUCTION** 


xiv 

tants have been as little defcribed as if the 

\ 

Atlantic had flowed between us, inftead 
of dividing us both from the new world 

The obfervation is fomewhere in Swift, 

/ * / 

that few travellers think it worth their 
while to vifit Ireland. What was true 
in his time, has continued fo to the pre- 
fent period. It feems to have been 
blotted out of the geographical outline of 
European tours. I do not confider thofe 
who have been led there by the calls of in- 
tereft or of honour, as forming any juft 
objection to the truth of a general remark* 

* I have fince met with a fimilar remark which 
comes from the very higheft and belt authority. Lord 
Chancellor Clare, in the fpeech which he delivered in 
the Houfe of Lords in Ireland, on Lord Moira’s mo¬ 
tion, February 19, 1798, makes life of thefe words i 
u It is one of the greateft misfortunes of this country, 
“ that the people of England know lefs of it, than they 
“ know perhaps of any other nation in Europe.” Page 
84.of the fpeech printed by Wright. 


\ 


INTRODUCTION. 


XV 


Gentlemen of that defcription are includ¬ 
ed, by Sterne, within the clafs of tra¬ 
vellers from neceffity. Their objects are 

bufinefs, or military fervice, and if ever 

1 ~ 

they move out of the fphere of thofe 
duties, it is entirely for their own plea- 

i 

furc: the literary world is never in the 
leaft inftruded by it. There has not 

been a Chardin or a Rennell in Ireland. 

' - i .. 

Setting afide then altogether this defcrip¬ 
tion of travellers, w'ho, to confefs the 
truth, have been hitherto by far too nu¬ 
merous for the advantage either of Great 
Britain or of Ireland; I think it will be 
conceded to me, that if w r e look over the 
lift of tourifts who have favoured the 
world with that knowledge which the in¬ 
defatigable fpirit of Britifli inquiry has 

/ 

led them to colled: in other countries, 
we fhall be at a lofs to difcoyer w T hy thq 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION 


lifter kingdom has beenfo ftrangely over¬ 
looked. 

When I conftdered this circumftance, 
and at the fame time felt a full convi&ion 
of the extreme intereft which every fubjed: 
of Great Britain muft feel at the prefent 
moment in whatever relates to Ireland; 
I thought I could not better fpend that 
feafon of recreation which the Autumn 

4 ' V ' 

afforded me as a member of a learned 
profeffi on— 

' 'V * \ '■. *. i 

*- cum jam non mifcent jurgia leges , 

Et paccm piger annus habet , mcJJcjque reverjre 
Dlmijcrc Forum *;— 

!• 

' ■ * 

than in paying a vifit to the undefervedly 
negle&ed Hibernia. I thought it a laud¬ 
able curiofity to inquire a little into a 

i 

nation, with which Great Britain was 
about to become moft clofely united. 

* Statius. 


i 


( 





I 


INTRODUCTION* XVU 

r \ 

An Englishman's heart fhould not, even 
in wat time, be feparated, like his native 
ifland, from the reft of the world. There 
is a certain debt which every man owes 

^ V 

to his country, as well as to his profeffion. 
I had often thought that a lawyer is too 
apt to confider himfelf excufable in com¬ 
plete indolence, when he has paid his ne- 

. / „ 

celfary tribute of attention to the calls of 
his profeftlon. His Summer vacation, 
which might be profitably employed, is 

v 4 

too frequently devoted to the mereft in¬ 
activity, perhaps f conchas et umbillcos ad 
Cajetam legcre .’ If he joins in the diffi- 
pation of a public watering place, it is ftill 
lefs excufable. I determined to avoid 

both. I formed the refolution of dedicat¬ 
ing a few leifure weeks to a perfonal ex- 
* 

animation into the ftate and condition of 
the Irifh nation. The refult of the obfer- 


'N 


b 


INTRODUCTION* 


• » • 
xviii 

vations and reflexions which I made, 
when I was there, I now r prefent to the 
Public in the following pages. 

t 

It rauft certainly be allowed, that no¬ 
thing is more interefting, ufeful, and hor- 
nourable, than the ftudy of the govern¬ 
ment, the religion, the commerce, and 
the manners of a great nation. They 
form a large portion of the whole circle 
of human fcience. To underftand them 

i ’ , , 

thoroughly, is only within the fcope of 

fuch talents as muft be combined to form 

\ 

both the ftatefman and the metaphyfl- 

* 

cian. Looking back therefore on what 
I have attempted, I may fay with Lord 
Bacon, that what I have w ritten, appears 

* not much better than that noife or founet 
4 which muficians make while they are 

* tuning their inftruments, which is no- 

* \ * 

‘ thing pleafant to hear, but yet is a caufe 




i 


INTRODUCTION. 


XIX 


* why the mufic is fweeter afterwards. So 

* have I been content to tune the inftru- 

t 

4 ments, that they may play who have bet- 
4 ter hands.’ Though I diredted my atten¬ 
tion to thefe fubjedts whilfi I was in Ire¬ 
land, yet I cannot afpirc to be confidered 
as more than a fuperficial obferver. I ac¬ 
knowledge that the country prefents other 
interefting objects to a vifitor. It abounds 
with the greateft variety of natural curiofi- 
ties, and with that moil enchanting rural 
fcenery (more particularly in the county of 

4 i 

i 

Wicklow, over which I travelled) wdiich 

• > 

the admirers of pidturefque beauty go in 
fearch of. It would well exercife the pencil 
either of Pouffin or Salvator Rofa. But I 
could not perfuade myfelf to fill my let¬ 
ters with defcriptions of that fort. There 
were other objects which more engaged 
my attention, and interefted my inquiries. 

b % 


INTRODUCTION, 


XX 

The {fate of the Irifh kingdom had been 

* ' y 

the great fubjed of public difcuffion, ever 
fince its Lcgiflative Union with Great 
Britain was propofed. The principal ar- 

i ... 

guments in favour of that meafure were 
drawn from that topic. It was the Uni¬ 
on therefore that attraded my attention 
to Irifh affairs * which principally induced, 
me to vifit the country, and which after¬ 
wards bounded the nature of my inquiries 
when I was in it. Every fad: which could 
tend to make up my opinion on that 
great contefted meafure, w r as an objed to 
which my obfcrvations were principally 
direded. 

I cannot pretend to aflert, that every 
thing which I have faid in the following 
Letters is altogether new, or that many of 
the obferv ations have not even been made 
by other writers. I can only take to my- 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXI 


iclf the merit of having afcended to the 

o 

fountain-head of information, fo far as 

having been in the country can entitle me 

* / 

to it, and no farther. Having made my 

. i * ■ 

remarks on the fpot, and from a perfonal 
obfervation of fadts, I may be confidered 
as more peculiarly fpeaking, ‘ Ex TrU 
pode> than other writers on the fubjedt. 
All that has been faid in England muff 
have neceffarily partaken in a great de¬ 
gree of the nature of abftradt rcafoning. 
What I have written, if not more Gorredt, 

is at leaf!; more impartial. The looker-on 

' • # ' *■ 

not only fees more of the game than thofe 
who play, but can alfo judge of it much 
better. But it would be abfurd, under 
every advantage, to aim at perfedt origi¬ 
nality, confidering. the very extenfive dif- 

\ 

cuffion of Irifh affairs which the Union 


xxn 


INTRODUCTION. 


has led to. I cannot, however, confci- 

. i 

entioufly accufe myfelf of the leaft pla- 
giarifm. In flu dying a fubject, it isfome- 
times difficult to diftinguiflh one’s own 
thoughts from thofe which originally be¬ 
longed to other people. Where it can be 
done, no perfonal vanity fhould ever be 
fuffered to interfere with the difcharge of 
that important duty. But as I have been 
in a fituation to fee and not to read, to fur- 
nifhmy mind with the images of things, 
with original pictures, and not with mere 

* i f 

copies or the reprefentations of other 
men’s ideas ; I flatter myfelf that I do not 

ftand expofed even to any fufpicions of 

✓ 

that fort. 

It is a celebrated faying of the fame 

great philofopher above mentioned, that 

, • • 

a well written book compared with its 
rivals and antagonifts, is like the ferpeat 


INTRODUCTION. XXlii 

of Mofes, which immediately fwallowed 
up thofe of the Egyptians. But having no 
rivals in my general defign, there is not 
any neceffity for my work undergoing fo 
fevere a trial. With refpeit to the dif- 
cuffion of the Union between the two 
kingdoms, which forms but a fmall por¬ 
tion of this work, and that only becaufe 

* X. ' * 

it was incident to the propofed outline of 

r / 

it ; I have not fufficient vanity to ima-, 
• \ . 
gine that it will completely annihilate the 

many excellent publications on that fub- 

je£t. Neither am I of opinion that it 

ought to do fo. I really think that fo 

'* i 

important a meafure as that great legilla- 
tive one in queftion cannot have been too 

much canvaffed, and that the greater the 

\ * ' , • 

number of underftandings w r hich were 
employed upon it the better. 

As every man both judges and looks 


XXIV 


iOTfcODlTCTlON. 


either through a true or falfe medium, 

according to his education, his habits, and 

• , » , * « 

his prejudices, I cannot therefore omit 

f * • m 

mentioning, that I have always made it 

an objed with myfelf, to bring my mind 

• ' * * 

to a right underftanding on certain leading 

principles of politics. What thefe lead- 

■ • * r . • - 

ing principles are, and from whence de^ 

rived, will b£ hereafter explained. The 

• X _ . I * * ’ > 

blaze of the French revolution, indeed, 
for fome time dazzled my eyes, and the 

fhock of it threw me, with many others, 

. . . / 

into confufion. Every thing which was 
bottomed in antiquity feemed by that 
fplendid event (for it was fplendid in its 
commencement) torn up by the roots. 
But I have long recovered myfelf from 

/• * I 

my amazement, I have once more re¬ 
cognized the principles of the old fchool. 
Through the medium of thefe principles. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXY 


I made my obfervations on the Irifti go¬ 
vernment. It was, however, impoffible 
for any man, even without a guide to 
prevent falfe impreffions, to have mif- 
taken his way in that country. The prac¬ 
tical merits of the government might be 
there read in fo unequivocal a language, 
that it was impoffible to form an errone¬ 
ous appreciation of them. The fame op¬ 
tics, however, through wffiich I did ac¬ 
tually view Ireland and its government, 
I often contemplate the Britifh nation. 
The more I furvey it, the more I am de¬ 
lighted with the contrail. The more I 

- / 

reflect on my country, the more I am 
convinced of the truth of Montefquieu’s 
obfervation— c Que c efl le peuple du inonde 
‘ qui a le mieux Jit Je prevaloir a la fois de 
* ces trois grander tfiofes , la Religion , le Conir 
( metre, et la Liberie 

* De T Efpirit des Loix, 1. xx. c. I* 

/ - 

\ ) 

■/ 


\ 


» ' 

XXVI INTRODUCTION. 

\ * 

I did not however undertake the talk 

^ ■ ' • > 

/ s 

of vifiting Ireland, for the fake of difcover- 
ing abufes in its government, to inveigh 
againft. My objedl was to find topics 
for admiration in the purfuit of truth. 

My mind was neither biaffed by national 

f f 

nor party prejudices. My political prin¬ 
ciples had neither been borrowed from 
the monaftic notions which prevailed un¬ 
der the Houfe of Stewart, nor fabricated 

t 

in the warehoufes of French democracy. 

I felt myfelf a friend to good govern¬ 
ment wherever it was to be found, and I 
looked on the Britifh conftitution as of 
the effence of it. But as to oppreffion 
and anarchy, whether it were in France 
or in Ireland, I beheld them both with 
equal regret and indignation. 

On the fubjeft of the religious differ- 
* • 

ences of the Iriili, I have carefully guarded 

3 





I 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXVU 


againft making any obfervations which 
might be thought foreign to the fubjeft. 

I have always efpoufed the caufc of the 

/ 

party which I thought oppreffed, without 

being attached either to the Catholic or 

\ 

to the Prefbyterian perfuafion. If the 
caufe of religion has ever fuffered in the 
eyes of mankind, it has been owing to 
miflaken and foolifh zealots. I am fure I 
am not a member of that body. I have 
difeufled the interefts of the Catholics and 

* i 

Proteftants in Ireland, in a political point 
of view, and not as a polemic divine. I 
have always endeavoured to reconcile, in 
my own mind, an high refpeft for the 
caufe of religion, with but little con¬ 
cern for particular controverted doctrines. 

V }. 'Wf •*!'i ' rr >n. • 

Thefe, from their very nature, muft al¬ 
ways remain fubje&s of doubt and uncer¬ 
tainty. The combatants on thefe points, 


xxvm 


INTRODUCTION. 


\ 

fays Voltaire, almoftas if they were danc¬ 
ing a minuet, turn and fhift and move 
about without ever advancing a fingle ftep, 

I 

till at laft they both find themfelves at 
the identical fpot from whence they firft 
fet out *. But I had not any thing to dp 
with them in the following inquiry, and 
therefore I have pafled them by. If I 
have thought- proper to mention them 
here, it was only left I fhould be miftaken 


* 1 Ne difeutons point la foule de ces proportions 
qu’on pent attaquer et defendre long terns fans con- 
venir de rien. Ce font des fources intariffables de difi- 
pute. Les deux contendans tournent fans avancer, 
comme s’ils danfaient un menuet; ils fe retrouvent a 
la fin tous deuxen meme.endroitd’ou ils etoient partis. 1 

It would have been an happy circumftance for his 
country and for the whole ebriftian world, if this 
lively and ingenious writer had preferved the fame 
neutral indifference on religious points throughout all 
his difeuflions. We may fmile at the bright effufions. 
of his fancy, but we cannot but deplore the effects 
which they have produced. 


INTRODUCTION. XXIX 

for a fuperftitious miffionary, who has 
written a whole volume in order to ad¬ 
vocate the caufe of his own conventicle 

. 

in one chapter of it. 

I have alfo faid as little as poffible on 
that grand common place for decla¬ 
mation, the progrefs of French princi- 

_ , » 

pies all over Europe. I have left that 

fubjed: to thofe who do not defpair of 
rivalling Pitt in precilion, or Burke in 
eloquence. That wonderful event, the 
French Revolution, as it has been felt, and 

i 

ftill continues to be fo, in the moft op- 
pofite quarters of the globe, fo has it 
called forth into a&ion the greateft and 
moft oppofite talents. As Great Britain 
and Ireland have feverely felt the ffiock of 
it, fo have they been zealous in difculling 

i 

the caufes of. It was moft efpecially felt 
in England, where ‘ grand fwelling fenti- 


6 




XXX INTRODUCTION* 

timents of liberty' have always been par¬ 
ticularly liftened to. I am lure it would 
be hypocrily in me to deny how often I 
have been affefted w^hen I have met with 

i • p* ■ •njp . B , - 

the lofty glowing maxims of republican- 
ifm in the poets and orators of antiquity. 
I have felt all that * glorying and inward 
triumph’ at fublime paflages of this fort, 

* t 

which every reader muft have experienced 

i • 

upon fuch occafions. I hope I fhall long 

y ' 

continue to enjoy that pleafure. Is it 
therefore to be wondered at, that the 
heart fhould have been ftimulated to take 
.an active part in their favour, when they 

# f • 

pa{Ted from the clofet to the fenate ? * Is it 
ilrange that the abhorrence which wc fo 
early have imbibed againft ancient ty¬ 
ranny, and which the deliberations of our 
more mature age muft lead to confirm in 
us, when we furvey our own glorious con- 

i 


i 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXXI 

ftitution, fliould have led men to rejoice 
at the French Revolution ? at the political 

emancipation of thirty millions of men ? 

• • 

But whatever were our raptures at the 
commencement of that event, the ex- 
cefles which it is has led to, have ftartled 

■ . i r 

• > • ' 

the molt anxious friends of liberty. They 

/ 

have been obliged to paufe, to rcfled, 
and to diferiminate. 

This inward conflid has terminated in 
an endeavour to diftinguifh between fober, 
virtuous, and rational freedom; and that 

V 

falfc lawlefs fpecies of it which is in fad 
the word of all tyrannies. It has alfo 
taught us the important’ leflbn of diferi- 
minating between the real friends of liber¬ 
ty, and thofe who only ufe it as a cloak 
to cover other defigns. The Britifh na¬ 
tion will now acknowledge no other 
freedom than that which confifts in per- 


V 


XXxii INTRODUCTION* 

* 

fonal fecurity, perfonal liberty, and the 
prote&ion of private property that free¬ 
dom which the law defines and fupports. 

With refpect to the Irifh rebellion, I 
endeavoured faithfully to get at the caufes 
of it, both from my own individual 
inquiry, and from an examination of pub- 
lie documents* It was not my defign to 
delineate the confequences, or to enter 
into any detail of the particular fa<£fo 
which arofe out of that event. During 
my ftay in Ireland, I had indeed ample 
materials for fuch an undertaking. But I 
thought that to trumpet them forth 
would come with a bad grace on the eve 
of an Union. I have always thought, 

I ; ' 

and am ftill perfuaded, that civil dif¬ 
ferences, like family ones, Ihould be bu- 

v „ > .. -' ' . a 

ried in oblivion. I think it is Quintilian 

who tells the ftory of a certain philofo- 

• ' ' ^ 

< , ’ i 

, ' / • * ■ 




» 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXXlli 


pher offering to teach Themiftocles the 

% 

art of memory, to fuch an extent, that he 
fhould be perfectly able at all times to re-* 
colled: whatever took place within the 

» y 

Iphere of his obfervation. The illuftri- 
ous Athenian however made anfwer, that 
it would be doing him a much greater 
favour to teach him to forget rather than 
remember what he pleafed !—Let the par¬ 
ty hifforians of Ireland take the hint. 
I hope that the defign which was adver- 
tifed in Dublin, whilft I was there, of 
blazoning out the details of that unhappy 
event, the rebellion, will be given up. 
When the interefts of both parties are on 
the eve of adjuftment, and I truft of re¬ 
conciliation, particular paft differences 
fhould receive a general amnefty, This 
feems to be the proper and natural death 
of civil diffenfions. 


XXX iv INTRODUCTION. 

* ' * ■» “ * 

Before I clofe thefe preliminary obfer- 

rations, I would fain make my peace with, 
any gentleman who.may be difpleafed 
with any thing which I have faid of the 
people of Ireland in the following Let¬ 
ters. I have never been in the leaft per- 
fonal, and general charafteriftics have al¬ 
ways been allowed fair game for fatire. 

^' 

But I muft not be thought to affert a 
right merely becaufe I have exercifed it. 
I have never painted defeats in hideous co¬ 
lours, or with the exaggeration of carica¬ 
ture; but merely as truth and impartialjuf- 
tice obliged me to do. 1 did not however 
find much occafion for cenfure of any fort. 

I look upon the people of Ireland as a 

/ 

r _ 

brave and generous people. Their hof- 
pitality is confpicuous. In their deport¬ 
ment towards ftrangers, they are perfectly 

A * . » 

free and unreferved. There is a fpirit of 

t 

i 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXXV 


franknefs and an engaging fprightlinefs 

in their general demeanour which cannot 

\ 

fail to make impreffions in their favour. 
I would not be thought to have made an 
ill ufe of the opportunities which I en¬ 
joyed of gaining all the information I 

i 

could defire. They are a people I efteem, 
and I fhould be forry to deferve the ill opi¬ 
nion of any individual amongft them. 

I am confident that it is an undertaking 
of fome difficulty, as well as delicacy, to 
inquire into the caufes of public grievances 
and difcontents. If a man happens to dis¬ 
cover the real evil, he incurs the danger 
of being looked upon as the inftrument 
of faction; if he fails in his refearches, he 
is defpifcd as a fuperficial and vifionary 
libeller. If he approves of the conduft of 
government, he will be looked upon as its 
tool: if he condemns it, though he there- 


XXXvi INTRODUCTION. 

by furnifhes out that fort of repafi which 
is always fwallowed mod greedily by the 
multitude; yet may that line of conduct 
as often be juftly imputed to fpleen or dif- 
appointment, as it deferves to be con- 
fidered the language of impartial truth. 
There is as much of falfe liberty in ma^ 
lignant inventive, as there is of fervility in 
undefervingly paid adulation As I dis¬ 
claim both, I hope I lhall not be fufpe£ted 
of either. Every man may ftep a little 
out of his ordinary fphere, when the af¬ 
fairs of a nation are diffracted. It did not 
perhaps even require anticipation to look 
upon the affairs of Ireland as thofe of 
Great Britain, to examine into them nar¬ 
rowly, and to reafon upon them freely, 
boldly and liberally. 

* Adulationi feedum crimen fervitutis, malignitati 
falfa fpecies libertatis ineft. T AC. 


INTRODUCTION. XXXV11 

** I* 

I 

With refpeft to the execution of this 
work, as it profeffes to be only an epifto- 
lary one, I hope that much apology is not 
required for it. Many graces of arrange¬ 
ment and didtion have been facrificed, 
to accommodate the time of publication 
to the political topic of the day. I have 
however been, to myfelf, a moft fevere 
critic *. Whilft I have been revifing 
thefe Letters for the Prefs, I have an 
hundred times refolved to abandon alto- 

•' - -‘i 

together the defign of publifliing them. 
I have even proceeded to tear my papers. 
But my courage at length has conquered 
my irrefolution. But yet, after all, I 
fhould never have afpired beyond the ob- 
fcurity of an anonymous writer, if I had 
thought that my name would be pledged 

* Soyez voas a vous meroe un fevere critique. 

Boileau, 


XXXV111 


INTRODUCTION. 


cither for argument or ftyle, and not 

, r • - * t ' * . .» * r 

merely for that regard to impartial truth 

0 T »■ .... iS'l: t" '■ » 

and juftice with which the Letters were 
written. 

" * r 

I conclude this Introduction (left the 
prologue fhould be longer than the drama) 

* r r * * • •. • 

with hoping that I fhall not be thought to 
have been altogether travelling out of my 

' \ • f tr' r, * * 

profeffion. I fhould be forry to be claffed 
with the mere pamphleteers of the day, be- 

f. ■ -f •.. r v - 

caufe I have affiimed that character to fill 
up a few leifure hours. I have always been 

v . . . . _ l / •* r • f ¥ 

ufed to active purfuits, and had rather 

0 

employ myfelf even about trifles, than 
* - . 
drag out the time in unprofitable indo¬ 
lence. I truft, however, that the talk I 
have ventured upon, will neither be con- 

f ft 1 r r 

fidered trifling, nor uninterefting at the 

/ i 

prefent period of time. I even hope that 

' j r . • s * 

the importance of it will alone fuffice to 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXXIX 

excufe the defective execution of it. To 
be inftrumental in reftoring order and re- 
pofe to a kingdom, fo greatly diftrafted 
as Ireland has long been—to aim at pro- 
moting a good underftanding between 
that nation and Great Britain, ‘ in order 
that every thing fliould be fweetly and har- 
monioufly difpofed through both illands 
towards the confervation of their com¬ 
mon liberties, commerce, and dominion" 
—is merely, in the attempt, an under¬ 
taking that would do honour to the 

brighteft talents, and obtain pardon for the 

% 

efforts of the meaneff underftanding. That 
pbjeeft I have conftantly had in view. 

But, had I done juftice to the attempt, 

» > w 

even if I had been able, (which I am fure 
nobody is farther from fuppofing than I 
am,) I fhould have been carried far beyond 
thofe bounds which I had preferibed to 


3 


INTRODUCTION. 


xl 

myfelf. The torrent would have carried 

• . ' f r . r ■ 

me away from all my profeffional avoca¬ 
tions, inftead of merely filling up a chafm 
in them. Had I ftepped {till more out of 

i r r 

the way, I lhould like Atalanta have loft 
the race, and that too, perhaps, without 
picking up the golden apples. For, the 
more I thought of my fubjeft, the more, I 
confefs, I found the difficulties of it in- 
creafe. I have therefore done little more 
than the merely {ketching an outline. 
Such, however, as it is, I throw it as 

my mite into the rich bank of Britifh 

. . » . 

Literature. Whatever may be its fate, 
the author is fure to fatisfy every liberal 
critic, by confeffing himfelf, in the words 
of the greateft poet that ever wrote, 

NHITION, GVrfCU £<5oS’ Of&QltOV ZCfOXs^OlO, 

Ov$' ayooeuiv, ivcc r' avfys$ apiifpe tubs TsXsGqvw, 

Londctt, Nov. ii 1799 , 


t 


LETTERS 


ON THE 


IRISH NATION. 


LETTER I. 


ON THE CHARACTER OF THE IRISH. 


My dear Sir, 

When I laft addreffed 
you, I was profecuting my journey 
through North Wales. I was ftudioufly 
exploring the retreats and faftnefles to 
which our gallant anceftors retired in 
the laft defence of their liberties. I felt 
happy in the midft of a brave and honeft 
people. They have long enjoyed the 
: B 



2 


LETTERS ON THE 


high character of combining individual 
integrity with public loyalty and attach¬ 
ment to England. There is no country 
where I could poffibly have felt myfelf 
more at home. The Englifhman who 
travels through it, will find the fyftem of 

manners and the habits of life which pre- 

\ „ 

vail there, only fo far differing from his 
own, as to furnifh a pleafing variety to 
inftruft and recreate the mind. He may 
there travel over claffic ground without 

V ' ’■•<> V; 

going far abroad for it, and find fufficient 
objects to enrich his imagination, improve 
his tafte, and meliorate his heart. 

I have now arrived in Ireland. With 
the fpirit of curiofity raifed to its higheft 
pitch, having climbed the fliaggy fteep of 
old Snowdon, and wound back my way 
through the mazes, defiles, and pafles, 
which abound in the romantic country 

3 




$ j 


i 


i 


I 


IRISH NATION. > 3 

of the Ancient Britons; I left the royal 
towers of Caernarvon, the birth-place of 
the unfortunate Edward; crofted the fa¬ 
mous ftrait which Tacitus has immortal¬ 
ized; and travelled acrofs the ifland which 
was the laft fandtuary of Druidical fuper- 
ftition, and the boundary of Roman con- 
queft. At the oppofite extremity of An- 
glefea I embarked for Dublin, to which 
favourable winds blew me fafely over in 
twelve hours. 

It will be the objedt of this letter to 

defcribe the contraft of character which I 

> 

have met with in the lifter kingdom. In 
my future letters I fhall defcend to other 

s. 

important particulars. But, in difcharging 

* 

this tafk, I muft declare that it will neither 
be my inclinatioh nor duty to apologife for 
any feeming prolixities. You have rc- 
quefted my obfervations on the Irifh na- 

' B - 


1 


4 


LETTERS ON THE 


tion, and I fhall give them to you in fuch 
order, at fuch length, and moreover at fuch 

/ . * 9 

times, as my fingle judgment fhall dictate. 

The government, the religion, the morals, 

' ' 1 * , ' 

and the manners, of a country, are the ob¬ 
jects which attract a traveller’s attention. 
In flu dying thefe, he will always find his 
befi: account. But the connexion of Ire¬ 
land with Great Britain may extend the 
inquiry to the phyfical peculiarities of the 
country. The climate, the foil, and the 
natural beauties, will perhaps excite your 
curiofity; I fhall, therefore, difpatch that 
fubjed in a very few words. 

The difference of a fingle degree of la¬ 
titude cannot, of itfelf, make the climate of 

Ireland differ much from that of England. 

\ 

But the bogs and moraffes, which confti- 
tute the peculiar charaderillic of the coun- 

i 

try, occafion an extraordinary moifture 


IRISH NATION. 


5 


and dampnefs of the atmofphere. Ireland 
may be juftly called, in the words of Ta¬ 
citus, ‘ terra paludibus fxda .’ I may even 

\ 

carry on the parallel with the defcription 
which that admirable writer proceeds in 
giving of ancient Germany. Its lands are 
aim oft entirely pafturage, and of courfe 
afford fuftenance to prodigious flocks and 
herds. The perennial greennefs of the 
country is therefore, on thefe two ac¬ 
counts, juftly proverbial. But in the article 
of timber, there is an uncommon defici¬ 
ency. I have heard it eftimated, and I 
think with fome appearance of truth, that 
there is as much wood in our fingle county 
of Kent, as in the whole kingdom of Ire¬ 
land. When I add to thefe phyfical pecu¬ 
liarities, that the bays and harbours of Ire¬ 
land are uncommonly pitfturefque, as well 
as commodious; that the Shannon is a 

B3 


t 


t 


6 LETTERS ON THE 

mod noble river; that the lakes of Kil- 

/ i 

larney are the mod enchanting in the 
world; and that Dublin, in population, 
magnitude, and the fplendour of its public 
edifices, is the fecond city in his Majefty’s 
dominions ; you know all that is neceflary 
to learn, or perhaps that is worth know¬ 
ing, of the general appearance of the 
\ s « 

country. 

Leaving, therefore, the detailed defcrip- 
tion of thefe particulars to thofe whole 
difpofitions or leifure it may fuit with to 
make them, I proceed to the more impor¬ 
tant talk of inquiring into the character 
of the Irifh people. I am lenfible, how¬ 
ever, that a difcuffion of this fort is at- 
* 

tended with great difficulties. I truft you 
will, therefore, give me credit for entering 
upon it with becoming diffidence. He who 
flatters himfelf that the character cither of 


IRISH NATION. 


7 


an individual, or of a nation, may afford 
an uniformity of virtuous and honourable 
qualities, without the alloy of any faults 
or defedts, will find himfelf in the refult 
greatly difappointed. To fuch a man 
therefore I do not addrefs myfelf. ‘ The 
web of our life (as Shakefpeare fome- 
where remarks) is of mingled yarn, good 
and ill together. Our virtues would be 
too proud, if they were not counterba¬ 
lanced by our vices ; and our vices would 

if 

be intolerable, if they were not chaftifed 
by our virtues.’ 

The characters, then, both of indivi- 

i , 

duals and of nations, are alike chequered 
with beauties and deformities, with virtues 
and with vices. If we inquire into the 
caufes from which thefe peculiarities flow, 
we fhall find that it neceffarily muff be fo. 
The infirmity of human nature is a plea 

B 4 


8 ' 


LETTERS ON THE 


broad enough to palliate almoft the greateft 
defeats. But philofophers, when inquir¬ 
ing into the caufcs of national characters, 
have pufhed their refearches {till farther. 
Though the moft accomplifhed politicians, 
both of ancient and modern times, have 
been divided in opinion with refpeCt to 
thefe caufes; yet they all agree that the 
efFeCts are neceffary, invariable, and un¬ 
alterable. Phyflcal caufes and moral ones 
have been alternately cried up. Mankind 
flood long contented with the authorities 
of Ariftotle and his difciple Montefquieu, 
who laid great ftrefs upon the former; but 

that opinion has been at length arraigned 

• _ 

by the cool fcepticifm of Hume. That 

philofopher doubts altogether of the in¬ 
fluence of phyfical caufes*. It is far from 

* This difference in the opinion of thefe great 
men may be feen by referring to Ariftotle’s Politics, 


I 


I 


IRISH NATION. 9 

/ 

my intention to declare myfelf the advo- 
cate of either party, or to decide dogma¬ 
tically on their refpedive merits. I fhould 
he happy were I able to reconcile them. 
It is a misfortune to mankind, when the 
great oracles of human wifdom contradid 
each other. Perhaps, however, in this 
cafe, as in moft others, truth will be 
found in the medium, equally apart from 
both the extremes; and in chooiing this 
courfe I am fupported by confiderable 
authorities. 

The phylical qualities of climate, air, 
and food, may certainly produce fome ef¬ 
fects on the national charader; but I am 
inclined to confider them as very incon- 

\ f 

/ 

B. 4, with Montefquieu De l’Efprit des Loix, L. 14. 
who moll ingenioufly applies the notion of Ariilotle, 
though without any mention of him: and Hume, in 
his Effay on National Characters, who contradicts 
them both, without noticing the name of either. 


1 


IO LETTERS ON THE 

fiderable. ‘ By working infenfibly on the 
tone and habit of the body, thefe pecu¬ 
liarities may perhaps influence in a fmall 
degree the temper and the paffions.’ But 
whoever conflders that the moft oppofite 
and inconflftent characters are often to be 
found under the fame climate, and that, 
on the other hand, an uniformity of dif- 
pofition and manners is fometimes feen in 
the moft oppofite extremes of heat and 
cold, will, I truft, be inclined to aferibe 
only a trifling effeCl to phyfical caufes in 

producing national characters.—It is, then, 

^ / ' 

to moral caufes that we muft principally 
refort, in accounting for the manners of a 
nation. Thefe are enumerated by Hume 
to be the nature of the government; the 
revolutions of public affairs ; the religion, 
the laws, the plenty or penury in wdiich 

i 

the people live; the fituation of the 


IRISH NATION. II 

country with refpedt to its neighbours; 
and fuch like particulars. Thefe are the 
circumftances which move the thoughts 
and the paffions of men. Hence their lcn- 
timents and their habits are formed; and 
from hence their actions proceed. It is, 
therefore, from thefe fources that the ge- 

i 

neral fpirit of every civilized nation mud 

% 

principally take its rife/ 

In order to give you a diftinft idea of this 
national character in the filter kingdom, it 
will be necefiary to apprize you of a dif- 
tillation of ranks unknown in England. It 
is not merely that llrong line of demarca¬ 
tion which in all countries divides the rich 

/ / 

from the poor: it is fomething more. The 

emigrations from Great Britain to Ireland 
v \ _ • 
have given rife to two dalles of people in it, 

the colonilts with their defendants, and 

the native Irilh, the original inhabitants of 


IZ 


LETTERS ON THE 


the country. To the firft of thefe ranks 

/ 

is confined all the civil power of the ftate, 
both fupreme and fubordinate; all the pro¬ 
perty in it both landed and commercial; 

and all the education and refinement. It 

% 

is not necefifary that I fhould point out to 
you, how much the other clafs of the peo¬ 
ple muft be feparated from this firft, when 
deprived of all thefe advantages. But 
the government, the eftablifbed religion, 
and the laws, have added weight and force 
to this already formidable barrier. Re- 
ferving the general difcuffion of thefe par¬ 
ticulars to a future opportunity, I fhall 

i 

content myfelf with remarking, that, not- 
withftanding thefe diftinftions between 
the Irifli people, there are certain features 
of national character in which they refem- 
ble each other. I fhall, therefore, endea¬ 
vour, firft to point out this coincidence; 


IRISH NATION. 12 

and then, by obfervations on each clafs 
feparately, inform you of the particulars 
in which they differ. 

Almoft all philofophers have concurred 

% * 

in allowing to the paffions a certain fhare 
in forming the human character, though 

' f 9 * ' 

fome of them have denied their controul 
over a truly virtuous man. The feverity 
of the Stoics, indeed, led them to declare, 
and even to define all paffion as contrary 

i 

to nature; and the fplendid eloquence of 
„ Cicero has been exerted in giving weight 
to that opinion*. But the progrefs of 
truth has at laft fully fhewn that thefe 

fublimated notions are inconfiftent with 

\ . , 

the frailty of man. Ariftotle (who op- 
pofed Plato in this as in all his other opi¬ 
nions) paved the way to a more mild and 

* See the fourth Tufculan Deputation of Cicero, 
chap. vi. et feq. 


14 


LETTERS ON THE 


moderate fyftem of philofophy. When the 
doCtrines of the Peripatetic School had 

been long almoft forgotten, a philofopher 

' , 

and hiftorian was born in the bleak and 
frozen regions of the North, who has on 
this occafion undefervedly acquired the 
merit of originality in eftablifhing the opi¬ 
nions of the Stagy rite*. Whilft the un- 
learned Sophifters of the day thought that 
Hume was attacking them, they were un- 
confcious that he was only wielding the 
weapons of Ariftotle. By this fyftem, 

i 

whofe bafis is nature, and whofe fuper- 
ftruCture the moft unanfwerable reafoning, 
virtue is proved to be nothing more than 
the difcipline of our natural feelings and 
affections into fteady. habits of right con¬ 
duct. It does not confift in the extinction 
of the paffions, but in the regulation of 

* See Hume’s Principles of Morals. 


4 


IRISH NATION. tg 

• / 

them. Virtue is grafted on the flock of 
the natural affections: Reafon, which is the 
prefiding deity, is exalted over the heart, 
to govern by its dictates ‘ the little ftate of 
man.’ 

Perhaps it will be found, that all na- 

» 

tional characters differ in proportion to the 

degrees in which thefe two principles of 

\ . c' . 

reafon and paffion are found to prepon¬ 
derate. They conftitute all the interme¬ 
diate gradations between the civilized ftate 
and the inhabitants of New Zealand. 
They form even the extremes themfclves. 
It is for this reafon that the philofophers 
of all ages and in all countries are the fame 
characters. We may certainly form to 
ourfelves an idea of an angel without paf- 

* f 

lions, but it is inconfiftent with human 
nature. Merely to imagine an individual 
of this defeription, whatever might be the 


I 


i 


iO LETTERS ON THE 

perfection of the reafon with which wc 

• * j 

fuppofe that he is endued, would be to pic¬ 
ture to the fancy a tame, flat, inflpid, fickly 
uniformity of charaCler. On the other 
hand, the contrail is equally deplorable. 

I 

For if the mind is not guided and fleered 
by reafon, it muft inevitably, like a veflel 

which has loft its rudder, be driven at 

> ' s / 

random by the tides of caprice, or tofled 
and fhipwrecked by the waves of paflion. 
It is therefore to the happy combination of 

4 

both principles, to the juft mixture of 
both ingredients, that all that is virtuous 
and ornamental in the human character 
is produced. 

I think that I cannot give you a better 
general idea of the Irifh character than by 
reforting to this fyftem of metaphyfics. It 
fecms to me that the principle of paflion 
bears a more than equal fway over that of 


IRISH NATION. 


17 


reafon, with this people. They are indued 
with warm hearts, ftrong feelings, and 
that peculiar force of natural fentiment 
which I confider as capable of being ex¬ 
alted, by the wifdom of legiflation, into a 
moft amiable national character. But 
that which ought only to enliven and 
impaffion the underftanding, is left to 
vegetate unpruned in all the wanton exu¬ 
berance of nature. It is not fufficiently 
under the controul and difcipline of reafon 
and moral habit. The confequence is, 

r J 

that it leads to many faults, at the fame 
time that it conftitutes many virtues in 

/ ' k 

their characters. I fhall point out to you 
how this haughty principle difplays itfelf 
in the lrifh nation. 

I. 1. This is firft in a great national 
pride and an high conceit of the political 
rank of their country in the lift of nations, 

C 


l8 LETTERS ON THE 

and of each individual of it as an impor¬ 
tant member of fociety. It cannot be 
diffembled that they are a vain-glorious 

and a boafting nation. The popular va- 

• \ 

nity of the whole can only be equalled by 
the family pride of each individual. They 
are equally ridiculous in their genealogical 
calculations, and their hyperbolical enco¬ 
miums on their country. Their hifto- 
rians have traced up the pedigree of their 
country to a period much earlier than the 
chronological records of civilized fociety 
extend. They will allow, that the f vixere 

fortes ante Agame?nnona ’ of Horace, is at 

* 

leaft true, if applied to Ireland. They 

inform you, that it was Hourifhing in 

» 

learning and civilization, whilfl: all other 
nations were obfeured in ignorance and 
barbarifm. Europe and America arc con¬ 
tented to acknowledge their gratitude to 


IRISH NATION. 


*9 


Phoenicia, for bellowing on them the be¬ 
nefits of letters and religion. But the ge- 

\ 

nerality of the Irilh hiftorians forming a 
folitary exception to this general acquies¬ 
cence of modern nations, have inverted 

i " • ' 

the ordinary progrefs of civilization, by 
alferting that their country was in the en¬ 
joyment of it prior to the Afiyrian or oldelt 
of the four monarchies of the ancient 
world.* They aflert that Egypt and 

* This is calculating according to Sir Il'aac New¬ 
ton’s Chronology. Sir William Jones has however 
demonllrated that a powerful monarchy was eflablilhed 
in Iran or Periia in its largeft fenfe, long before the 
AJfyrian or Pi/hdadi government ; that it was in truth 
a Hindu monarchy, though he fays that if any choofe 
s to call itCufian, Cafdean, dr Scythian, he will not en¬ 
ter into a debate on mere names; that it fubfilted 
many centuries, and that its hiftory has been engrafted 
on that of the Hindus, who founded the monarchies of 
Ayodhya and Indrapreftha ; that the language of the - 
firft Perfian Empire was the rhother of Sancrift, and 
confequently of the Zend and Perl!, as well as of Greeks 
Latin , and Gothic. (See his fixth Difcourfe to the 
Afiatic Society.)—Words would be wanting to ex- 

Cs 



50 


LETTERS ON THE 


* \ 


Phoenicia received the arts and fcienccs 
from the great anceftor of the Irifh na¬ 
tion. This people, fo polifhed in the re¬ 
mote# periods of antiquity, may therefore 
confiftently lay claim to the honour of 
being th z fathers of letters The beauty 
and fertility of their country are equally 

v 

the objects of their commendation. They 
will tell you that whatever is celebrated 
for beauty in hiftory or fable, is but a faint 

prefs the efteem and veneration which I feel for this 
Columbus in literature. As a linguift he can only be 
compared to the celebrated Giovanni Pico, a nobleman 
of Mirandula, in the age of Lorenzo de Medicis. But as 
achronologift, an antiquary, an aftronomer, a theorift 
in mufic, an elegant poet, fuperadded to his acquire¬ 
ments as a lawyer, he has no parallel. This finiihed 
model of intelle&uai and moral excellence is now 
no more: 

Dear fon of memory, great heir of fame, 

What need’ll thou fuch weak witnefs of thy name ? 

* See O’Halloran’s Hiftory, and Ierne defended 
by the fame author. 4to, 1774. 


IRISH NATION. s 2,1 

\ 

picture of what is to be feen in Ireland. I 
have found amongft them more Rudbecks 

r 

than the univerfity of Upfal ever produ- 

% 

ced*. As that celebrated profeffor af- 
fured the Swedes in his work called the 
Manheim or Atlantica, that the ‘ Atlantis 
of Plato, the country of the Hyperboreans, 
the gardens of the Hefperides, the Fortu¬ 
nate Iflands, and even the Elyfian Fields, 
were all, but imperfect tranfcripts of the 
delightful region of Sweden;’ fo are the 
Irifh equally lavifh in their encomiums on 
Ireland. It was but the other day that I 
accidentally fell into company with a pro¬ 
feffor of their univerfity of Dublin, and 

- v 

the converfation turning on the refpeftive 
merits of Great Britain and Ireland in the 

above-mentioned particulars, I found it 

% 

* Some account of Rudbeck may be found in 
Gibbon’s Hiflory, chap. ix. 

' ‘ C 3 


i 


LETTERS ON THE 


52 

impoffible to convince him that London 
was a finer city than Dublin, or that Eng¬ 
land in fertility and cultivation could at all 
be compared with Ireland. I left him to the 
peaceable enjoyment of his own opinion. 

Something has alfo been hinted of the 

\ ' 

pride of pedigree difplayed here by indi¬ 
viduals. The Irifhman in this refpect far 
exceeds all other nations. He can point 

A s 

out the individual fon of Japhet from 
whofe loins he is lineally defcended.’ I 
remember to have fcmewhere read, that 

i , , 

in the reign of Edward the fecond, an 
Ulfter prince made a public boaft of 
having fucceeded to near two hundred 
kings of Ireland, his lineal anceftors, down 
to the year 1170. Would you ima¬ 
gine that the genealogical tree of the 
meanefi: individual has an almoft equally 

1 . ^ 

deep root? The fail is undoubtedly fo. 

6 


IRISH NATION. 


-3 

/ 

With this fpirit, and with a fimilar boaft 
of anceflry, a kitchen-wench in the fer- 
vice of the celebrated bifhop of Cloyne 
refufed to carry out cinders, becaufe fhe 

was defcended from an old Irifh ftock *. 

* • 

I might weary you with details of this 
fort, but I content myfelf with affuring 
you that there is no nation whofe legen¬ 
dary tales about their country and kin¬ 
dred are fo extravagant and ridiculous as 

/ • 

thofe of the Irifh. The Englifh have 
been laughed at by foreigners for their 
predilection in favour of their own coun¬ 
try. But an Englifhman’s vanity pro¬ 
ceeds from a conviction of the acknow¬ 
ledged fuperiority in the confutation, the 
laws, the commerce, and the enjoyment 

i • * 

♦ 

* See Bifhop Berkeley’s work entitled, 4 A Word 
to the Wife; or, Letter to the Roman Catholic 
Clergy of Ireland.’ 

c 4 


/ 


24 


LETTERS ON THE 


of the comforts of life, which his country 
enjoys over all the world. The utmofl 

i , 

paroxyfms of his pride on thefe accounts, 

are fobriety and moderation themfelves, 

when compared with thofe of the Irifh- 

man. I do not, however, mention this 

leading feature in the character of the 

Irilli nation, as an unpardonable folly. 

On the contrary, I acknowledge it to be, 

« . 4 - 
in the abftradl, and without reference to 

its confequences on induftry, an harmlefs 
and innocent prejudice. I am not igno¬ 
rant that, generally fpeaking, there is an 
‘ habitual, native dignity’ infpired by the 
idea of a liberal defcent, which is admi¬ 
rably calculated for the prevention of 
crime, and the prefervation of a rational 
and manly virtue. Not but that an en¬ 
lightened education, and an acquaintance 
with the laws of humanity, will give a 


IRISH NATION. 2 $ 

i 

y v. 

fuperior elevation to the foul, to all the 
prerogatives of nobility, and all the pride, 
and pomp, and boaft, of heraldry. It 
would even be better to infufe into the 
minds of a nation the fpirit of life and 
energy, than the pride of anceftry, how¬ 
ever refined and fubtilized. All I contend 

I 

for is, that the vanity of a noble defeent 
may co-operate with the greatefi: talents 
and learning, and wdiere they are want¬ 
ing will often fupply the place of them. 

2 . But I turn with pleafure from the 
laughable excefies to which this trait of 

. . i / 

Irifh character leads, to one that I could 
expatiate upon with pleafure as a fcholar, 
and with gratitude as an Englifh fabjeel. 
I mean that heroic courage, that moft 
fplendid of all qualities, which has long 
adorned the people of this country. Not 
that I imagine it proceeds either from any 


2,6 


LETTERS ON THE 


principle of felf-prefervation, or fenfe of 
duty, which they have; but from that pride, 
that love of diftinciion, and that warmth of 
temper which fo much diftinguifhes them. 
All the world muft agree, that the Irifh 
are a brave and warlike people. They 
may be flaughtered or difperfed in the , 
field of battle, but their fpirit can never 
be tamed. Their minds are capable of 
being wound up to the higheft pitch of 
fortitude; and their bodies are hardy, ro- 
buft, and equal to the greateft fatigue. 
Their courage, indeed, is certainly not 
that juft medium between rafhnefs and 
pufillanimity, which a philofophcr would 

admire. It is too much influenced by 

\ 

paffion, and too little by the cool dictates 
of reafon and reflection. For true forti¬ 
tude can alone be feen in exploits which 

are not only warranted by juftice, but alfo 

\ 


IRISH NATION. 


27 


, % 

guided by the dictates of wifdom. But 
this is not the character of Irifli courage: 
it is more of ‘ towering phrenzy and dif- 

t 

tradlion.’ The confequence is, that it 
has chiefly been found ferviceable when 
made fubordinate to order and ftridt dis¬ 
cipline. It is of itfelf generally unfit to 
refolve before it executes. For this rea- 

, ■' 7 X 

fon, the Irifli have always diftinguiflied 
themfelves in the fubordinate ftations in 
our fleets and armies, but feldom when 
poflefled of fupreme power. They have 

always fucceeded to admiration where 

\ 

mere boldnefs has been looked for. They 
are gifted with that enterprifmg charac¬ 
ter which difregards all obftacles, or only 

9 ’ ' 1 

confiders them as fo many incentives to 
exertion. 

% \ 

A charafteriftic naturally connected 
with this philofophical defect (for it is no 


/ 


28 , LETTERS ON THE 

more) in the bravery of the Irifh, is, that 
they are hafty and impetuous, rafh and 
choleric, and fubjed: to the moft violent 
attacks of anger and paffion. This iraf- 
cible temper has created in the Englifh 
an habit of cautioufly avoiding too great 
a degree of intimacy with them. When 
heated with wine, of which they are im¬ 
moderately fond, there is no defcription 
of people more quarrelfome or dangerous. 
Drinking, inftead of promoting harmony, 

and conviviality, too frequently leads 

- \ 

them into broils and encounters. Even 
the merry-making of the peafant gene- 

>. i 

rally ends in bloodfhed. But this is, in 
fome degree, to be attributed to that ge¬ 
nerous warmth and opennefs of temper, 
to that boldnefs, both in fpeech and 
a6tion, which, when heightened by the 
juice of the grape, pours out the fenti- 

i 

■rfi ' • 


4 


\ 

/ 

IRISH NATION” Zg 

ments of the heart in the moft unguarded 
manner. There is an obfervation of my 
favourite author. Lord Chancellor Bacon, 
which irrefiftibly forces itfelf on my mind 
whilft I am on this fubjedt: ‘ Wine (fays 

he) is of a common nature with all the 

% 

paffions, and will be found to kindle and 
excite each of them in an equal degree.’ 
When, therefore, the natural difpofition 
of the Irifhman receives this artificial ir¬ 
ritation, the refult muft necefifarily be fuch 

- • * - 

as I have defcribed it. 

3. The fame difpofition which difplays 
itfelf in the manner I have above related, 
fhews itfelf alfo among the Irifh in ano¬ 
ther amiable point of view. This is in a 
fpirit of liberality and generofity, which 
I have feldom feen equalled. The hofpi- 
tality and munificence which they difplay 
towards Grangers, is, I think, if not un- 


3 ° 


LETTERS ON THE 


equalled, at leaft not exceeded, in any 
European country. That referve towards 
ftrangers, which alike chara£terifes the 
Englifhman and his maftiff, is unknown 
in Ireland. An accidental rencontre on 
the public road, often leads to the utmoft 
hofpitality: I have myfelf more than once 
experienced the benefit of this quality, 
under circumftances of that nature. The 
liberality difplayed towards their guefts at 
their tables is indeed fo extreme as to be 
frequently prejudicial to their fortunes. 
But it is obvious that there is a degree of 
oftentatious vanity which has fome fhare 
in leading them to thefe excefles: and their 
quicknefs in forming friendfhips is attend¬ 
ed with that general confequence which 
accompanies this difpofition, a propor¬ 
tionate fhortnefs in the duration of their 
attachments. 


IRISH NATION. 


3 i 


4.' But there is a trait in their difpofi- 
tions and manners fomewhat connedted 

* V 

with this hofpitality, and which often 
ferves as a foil to it. This is an exceffive 
love of gaming, no where indulged to 
greater lengths than in Ireland. This fpi- 
rit for play is not confined to the higher 
clafles of individuals as in England, but 

' • - 1 

extends to the pooreft and meaneft of the 
people. The effedt which it produces on 
their condudl, converfation, and behaviour 
in focial life, has been to me a matter of 
inconceivable amazement. I happened 
to be in Dublin when the State Lottery 
was drawing, and if it had been neceffary 
to convince me how pernicious an expe¬ 
dient this is for raifmg money for the ufe 
of the government, I fhould have there 
met with it. The crowds which are 
drawn in this vortex are inconceivable; 


/ . 


3 Z 


LETTERS ON THE 




old and young, rich and poor, gentleman 

and beggar, are alike avowed candidates 

/ 

for the favours of the blind goddefs. In 
, England, the laws guard againft many of 
the evils which this invention has~ been 
found to produce: the refinement of man¬ 
ners is {till an additional guard againft 
them. But in Ireland thefe laws do not 
exift; and manners form no barrier to 

* 

fupply the want of them. I have heard 
gentlemen in the moil fafhionable circles 
of polite company, openly exult at their 
gains, even by the infurance of lottery- 
tickets. Indeed, fpecuiations of that na¬ 
ture cannot any where elfe be carried on 
to fuch an extent. Perhaps, too, I may 
add to this, that the profeffion of a game- 
fter is more confined to the natives of 
Ireland, than of any other portion of his 
Majeffy’s dominions:* 


IRISH NATION. 


33 


But the effects of this gaming expedient 
for railing money, are ftill more confpicu- 
ous amongft the lower claffes of the peo¬ 
ple. The public ftreets of Dublin are 
filled with lottery - offices, beyond the 
conception even of a Londoner. Thefe 
fhops are adorned with every thing which 
can catch the eye, and delude the mind 

A / 

of the unwary. They are filled with 

i 

crowds of the mod miferable ragged ob¬ 
jects (of which Dublin, perhaps, contains 
more than any other city in Europe), 

flaking their daily bread on the chance of 

- » 

gain. I have often obferved in! London 
the multitudes of poor people, who are 

i 

plundered by the keepers of lottery-offices. 
I have often heard of the families of in- 

i 

duflrious mechanics and manufacturers 
driven by their frauds into the ftreets to 
beg their bread. I have even known old 

D 


34 


LETTERS ON THE 


fervants- plundered of the ‘ thrifty hire 

fayed in a life of fervice.’ But yet thefe 

/ . 

are all trifles when compared with the ex- 

9 

tent to which the evil of lottery-offices is 
carried on in Ireland. They are there an 
infult to the eye of public decency. The 
immcnfe fortunes alfo, which I underftand 

4 

are often fuddenly amaffed by the keepers 
of thefe gaming-houfes, are incredible. To 
my mind, this open pillage of the public is 
an outrage committed on every principle 
of morality, of moderation, and of the fpi- 
rit and objeft of laws. 

When I add to thefe general charac- 

'i / . 

teriltics of the nation their exceffive ere- 

i - / — 

dulity, which has always been impofed on 

«* 

by thofe who have been bafe enough to 
take advantage of it, and which has fo 
often made them the dupes of political 
innovators and artful demagogues, I con- 


/ 


IRISH NATION. 35 

lider that I have nearly fummed up every 
thing which I had to fay on this part of 
my fubjeCf. 

\f .4' * • * * 

II. Thefe, then, are what I confider to 
be the moft {hiking traits of that charac¬ 
ter which is common to all ranks and 
defcriptions of people in Ireland: they 
conftitute what may perhaps be called 
the general manners of the nation. You 
will, therefore, next expeCl of me, that I 
fhould difcufs feparately, the two claffes 
into which I have divided the people, in 
order to point out the differences in their 
characters. 

O* 

1. In thefe, the effeCl of moral caufes 

/ 

1 ' 

is moft confpicuoufly difplayed. All the 

> 

higher ranks of the people have emi¬ 
grated from England or Scotland, and 
obyioufly carry about them thofe diftin- 

D '% 


3 6 


I 


LETTERS ON THE 

guilhing marks which a mother country 
always produces on her fons, and which 
a vicinity of fituation, and conftant cor- 
refpondence with them, muft perpetually 
keep alive. 

This diftinguifhes the nobility and gen¬ 
try of Ireland, by a degree of civilifation 
and refinement in their manners, unknown 
to the majority of the people. It pro- 

duces a fimilitude of manners with the 

/ » 

Englilh nation, to the extent of the com¬ 
munication between the two countries. 
Our univerfities of Oxford and Cambridge, 
particularly the former, abound with Irilh 
ftudents; and our four inns of court in 
London, are thronged with them. This 
refidence in the metropolis and the feats 
of learning in England, produces that 
urbanity of manners which fometimes ah 
moft melts down the Irilh gentleman into 


IRISH NATION. 


37 


an Englifh one, and muft alfo extend the 
influence of education, and the refinement 
of manners, throughout the circle of 
friends and relatives at home. 

2 ,. In this Englifh fchool are formed the 
individuals who compofe the Irifh legifla- 
tive and judicial bodies. On thefe two 
theatres, the houfes of parliament and the 
bar, it muft be allowed that many fhining 
characters have been exhibited; and that 
many ftill continue to merit the applaufe 

and admiration of the world. As almoft 

\ ' 

every gentleman in Ireland confiders the 
education of his fon incomplete without 
fending him to ftudy three years in the 
Temple, it neceflarily follows, that the 
members of their parliament and their 
barrifters are blended together in educa¬ 
tion and charader. Indeed it is well 
known that one third of the houfe of 


LETTERS ON THE 


3 8 

commons has generally been pra&ifmg 
lawyers, or at leaft gentlemen who have 

s s T 

been regularly trained up to the profeffion. 

„ « 

For in Ireland, as well as in England, the 

* 

profeffion of the law now takes place of the 
church, and is at prefent that fame road 

to dignity and promotion which the latter 

/ 

was a few centuries ago. Perhaps it is even 
more fo in Ireland than it is in England. 
At any rate, however, it will appear, from 
what is above mentioned, that the num- 

_ . A r 4 ' 

ber of candidates who venture for the 
prizes of the profeffion is here in by far 

the greateff proportion of the two king- 

✓ * 

doms. The obfervations, therefore, ap¬ 
plicable to the talents which are difplayed 
in the courts of juftice, are perfectly ap¬ 
plicable to thofe which the parliament 
affords the field for. 

3. To the honour of Ireland, it muff be 


1 


IRISH NATION. 39 

acknowledged that the integrity and pu- 
% 

rity of character of thofe who have pre- 

fided over the adminidration of judice in 

/ 

the kingdom, has always been unble- 

mifhed and irreproachable. If they have 

/ 

fometimes been accufed of fufFering the 
violence of party-fpirit to influence their 
profeffional condud, they have never been 
in the flighted degree even fufpeded of 
the lead corruption. The voice of ca¬ 
lumny herfelf has, in this refped, been 
forced to be filent. And it is probable 
that the fird charge is unfounded, and is 
the mere effect of mutually recriminating 
fadions. But the difintereded difplay of 
great talents in the fervice of their coun¬ 
try, is a glory w^hich mod of their judges 
may defervedly lay claim to. It mud 

i \ 

alfb be confeffed, that there is often much 
learning, and dill more talent, to be found 

D 4 


40 


LETTERS ON THE 


amongft thofe who fill the fecondary ranks 
in the profeflfion of the law. I cannot 
dilTemble my fentiments. It feems to 
me that there are not many of that fo- 
renfic rabble *, that mechanical order of 
praftitioners; that half-witted, quibbling, 
over-technical clafs of lawyers, ‘ who 
grovel all their lives in a mean but gain¬ 
ful application to the little arts of chi¬ 
cane fI am inclined to think that the 
nature of the Irifh character renders it 
almoft impoffible to find the narrow¬ 
minded * cantor formularum , auceps Jylla - 
barum vel acutus prceco attionum againft 
which, as applied to the lawyers of mo¬ 
dern times, the keen ridicule of Cicero 
has fo juftly been directed. It is proba- 

# i’ * 4 

* Rabula foreniis. Cic. 

/ 

f Bolingbroke. 


v 


/ 


IRISH NATION. 


41 


I 


bable, too, that this fatire is more appli¬ 
cable to Weftminfter Hall than it ever 
was to the Roman Forum. But the bent 
of the minds of Irifli lawyers leads them 
in a widely different direction. There 
will be found at the Irifli bar individuals 
of that enlarged education which tends to 
form orators, philofophers, and flatefmen: 
there will be difcovered at it men who 
have climbed to what Bolingbroke calls 
4 the vantage ground of fcience.’ Their 
indifcriminate application to all the walks 
of the profeffion (fo carefully avoided in 
England) gives them an enlarged and 
comprehenfive knowledge, rather than 

that which is nicely accurate and parti- 

• —> 

cular. Add to this, the warmth and 
energy of the Irifh character greatly tends 
to form the true orator. It gives him 
that empaffioned ftyle of declamation 


1 


45 


LETTERS ON THE 


which is of the very eflence of the real 
talent for perfuafion. All high eloquence 
muft flow from paffion. There is a cold- 
nefs and torpor in the Englifli character, 
a dull, tame fluggiflmefs in the nation, 
which is incompatible with true oratory. 
Perhaps we have feldom produced fuch 

Vi 

animated fpeakers as Flood and Curran. 
Let me not be mifunderftood. I am in¬ 
clined to queftion whether they do not 
ftand unrivalled by the Englifli in that 
florid ftile of eloquence, of which ima¬ 
gination and paffion form the principal 
ingredients. Rational, argumentative ora¬ 
tors we have in abundance. Our fenate 

and courts are crowded with lawyers and 

✓ / 

ftatefmen of folid learning and real ge¬ 
nius, who therefore fleer clear of that 
empty declamation, that f bald unjointed 
chat,’ and verbofe counterfeited ap- 


\ 


IRISH NATION, 43 

, i * , 

* ✓ 

pearance of knowledge*, which muft 
fo often characterize the Irifh orator. 
I muft fpeak the truth of my country, 
however I may feel prejudiced in its favour. 
We have often produced a Coke and a 
Blackftone, but never a Cicero or an Hor- 
tenfius. Our Englifh lawyers too w T ill be 
often found to have inherited much of the 
fubtilty, and even of the chicanery which 

characterized their Norman anceflors. 

/ • 

They are not altogether unpraftifed in 

§ 

thofe illaqueating fubtilties and fine fpun 

webs of finefie which entrap and enfnare 

✓ 

the underftanding. It is true, that with 
all thefe draw-backs we often hear oratory 
in England inwhich eVerything thatlearn- 

?ng can afford is adorned by the fplendid 

\ * - 

trappings and embellifhments of rhetoric. 
But although there are many exceptions 

* Verbofa fimulatio prndentiae. Cic. 


/ 


44 


LETTERS ON THE 




to the remark, yet it will generally be 
found that this is a exotic talent. It is 
feldom of Englifh growth. It has either 
emigrated from Ireland, or defcended 
from the bleak mountains of Caledonia. 

i 

Murray was a Scot; and Burke was of the 
filter kingdom. 

4. But to return from the appreciation 
of talent to the confideration of manners: 
there is a ftriking peculiarity in the Irifh 
character which it is almoft impoffible that 
you fhould have overlooked; I mean that 
romantic gallantry towards the fair fex, 
that chivalrous fpirit, which has always 
fo highly diftinguifhed and marked the 
Irifh nation. The warmth of their tem¬ 
pers will partly account for it. Their ob- 
ligations to the feudal fyftem, and its atten¬ 
dant chivalry, which has contributed fo 
much towards the refinement of modern 


IRISH NATION. 45 

I / • . 

manners, will account for the reft. That 
military fyftem which our anceftors were 
fo familiar with, is itfelf no more. It 
now ftrikes us with that fame veneration 
and awe which the view of the ruins of 

•v \ 

the abbies and monafteries which were 
founded under it, and of the caftles and 
fortreffes which compofed a part of it, 
are fo well calculated to infpire. But the 
confequence which this fyftem has en¬ 
tailed on pofterity will perhaps be never 
eradicated It is queftionable whether 
they ought to be fo; notwithftanding the 

grains of alloy they carry with them. 

/ 

They have found an eloquent champion 
in Edmund Burke; and, with reference 

a 

to Ireland, his beautiful encomiums are 

1 

peculiarly juft and applicable He knew 
full well that the impaftioned character 
of his countrymen had been materially 


46 LETTERS ON THE 

foftened and adorned by the influence of 
this benign principle. It has made them 
men of the nicefl: honour, and lovers of 
the moft engaging kind. The company 
of the fair-fex has been there formed by 

«r 

the influence which chivalry has left be¬ 
hind it, into the grand fchool for all thofe 
mild and amiable virtues which they 
may be faid to be poflefled of. It has 
been made the fource of all their polite- 

f 

nefs, and of all the gentlenefs of manners, 
purity, patience, and obfervance, of which 

1 1 

they can poflibly boaft. 

5. The ancient world were ftrangers to 
this romantic kind of attachment to wo¬ 
men; but it muft alfo be remembered, 
that they were ftrangers to the abufes of 
thofe laws of honour which chivalry has 
left behind. Againft thefe laws moralifts 
cannot too much declaim, or legiflators 


47 


IRISH NATION, 

too carefully guard. In proportion to the 
influence which they obtain, it has been 
invariably found that all other laws and 

regulations are weakened and undermined. 

* 

In France, where this principle was carried 
to its hi'gheft pitch, it is well known that 
the moft wanton attacks on private hap- 
pinefs were confidered as no reproach to 
the character of a gentleman. Sedu6tion 
and adultery were carried on in the fpirit 
of the old knight-errantry, and in the moll 
' open and unreferved manner. Indeed the 
fair-fex always appreciated their confe- 
quence by the number of fuitors in their 
train. Gallantry, which is perhaps but 
another name for chivalry, feemed to have 
altered even the unalterable nature of vir¬ 
tue itfelf, amongft the people of France 
under the old government. It created new 

0 i* 

merits, and glofled over old vices. How 
* This is well depictured by a keen and fatirical 




48 LETTERS ON THE 

far the revolution in politics which has 
been effe<Sed will alter them in thefe re- 
fpefts, experience alone can demonftrate. 

Setting ailde for our future correfpond- 
ence the fubje£ts of the religious and po¬ 
litical differences of the Irifh, I cannot 
better account for the flack fyftem of mo- 

« I ' V 

\ 

obferver of human nature, although in this refpedf, 
like the Roman hiftorian Salluft, his own life was not 
the bed commentary on the excellent precepts with 
which his writings abound. The gay, the debauched 
Voltaire obferves, ‘ Ne remarquez vous pas que toute 
fociete s’empreffe a chaffer un coquin, de qualite ou 
non, qui eftfurpristrompantau jeu, ne s’agirait’il que 
de quelques piftoles ? tandis que toute fociete fe fait 
devoir de proteger, de fauver, d ’aider tous les coupa- 
bles dcs deux crimes les plus funcjles au genre humain y 
le duel and Vadultere? On fe pique de proteger ces deux 
delits, dont l’un detruit les defenfeurs de l’etat, et 
l’autre donne a tant de peres de families, a taut de 
princes, des heretiers qui ne font pas leurs enfans! 
Ne trouvez vous pas les barbares Turcs beaucoup plus 
fages que nos barbares polls occidentaux P Les Turcs ne 
connoiffent ni lavaine gloire du duel, ni la galanterie 
de l’adultere. Ne conviendrez vous pas d’ailleurs 
qu’il eft des delits qu’il faut toujours tacher d’ignorer? 
(Prixde lajuftice, Sec, art. 4.) 


IRISH NATION. 


49 


rality which is fo obfervable in Ireland, 
by any other principle than the one above 
mentioned. There is a profanenefs, a ne¬ 
glect of public worfhip and private devo¬ 
tion, a cruel oppreffion of the tenantry, 
and a general want of charity towards the 
poor, more ftriking amongft the Irifh gen¬ 
try than any where I ever faw or heard of. 
Religion has done little or nothing towards 
the civilization of the Irifh. To it, as a 
foftener and improver of their manners, 
they may well renounce all obligation. 
But though I have pictured this general 
Rate of immorality, yet there is one par¬ 
ticular to which in juftice to their charac¬ 
ter I muft acknowledge that the charge 
does not apply; I allude to conjugal infi¬ 
delity; inftances of which are much lefs 
frequent than in England. The women 
have the character of being virtuous; I 

E 

• / 

/ 

\ 

' 4 


5° 


LETTERS ON THE 


am fure I fhould be forry by any infi- 

% * • • j 

nuation to rob them of that brightefi: 
jewel in the female character. That they 
are many of them beautiful I have feen 
and often felt, and that they are chafte I 
moft fully believe : But the evil of chi¬ 
valry, (for I am on the fubjeCt, and 
muft proceed with it,) which has not 
extended to the corruption of the wo¬ 
men, has made full amends for the 
deficiency by the ravages it has made, in 
this particular, in the characters of the 
men. Although their debaucheries may 
not be fo evident in their own country, 
yet in England and in foreign nations they 
have always been highly diftinguilhed for 
them. 

The reafon of this ftate of immorality, 
particularly with reference to its effects 
on the lower orders of fociety in Ireland, 
6 




IRISH NATION. 


5 1 

/ 

fuch as I have defcribed them, ■ has 
been well given by an excellent philofo- 
pher. 4 The laws of honour/ fays he, 

‘ only prefcribe duties towards equals , 
without attending either to thofe which 
are due to the Supreme Being, or to our 
inferiors*.’ 

I conclude the obfervations Ayhich fug- 
geft themfelves to my mind on the cha¬ 
racter of the higher clafs of people in 
Ireland, with remarking, that there is not 
only a general negleCt of religion amongft 
them, but even a frequent derifion of it 
in others. This derifion mounts into per¬ 
fection, where the religion profefled by 
others happens to differ from that which 
is eftablifhed by law. The rich have all 
the intolerancy of bigots, without any of 
their piety. I think that you will agree 


* Pale)'. 

E 2 


5* 


LETTERS ON THE 


with me, that thefe are fufficiently {hik¬ 
ing traits of character to diffinguifh the 
wealthy from the lower claffes of the peo- 
pie in Ireland. 

i 

III. It is in general remarked, and with 
great truth, that the manners of a nation 
alter considerably from one age to another; 
either by revolutions in government, by 

V. * *’■ N ■ fc *> . " 

the mixture of ftrangers amongft them, or 

s. 

even by that inconftancy to which all hu¬ 
man affairs are fubjedted by nature. But 
perhaps this obfervation will be found to 
be exclufively inapplicable to three-fourths 
of the Irifh nation. As the earlieft records 
of the commencement of the connexion 
between the two countries inform us that 

they then were—fo will they be found at 

/■ 

prefent—an illiterate and uncivilized peo¬ 
ple. I pafs over their legendary tales of 
antient refinement, having nothing to do 


\ 

w 


IRISH NATION. 53 


with a period three thoufand years before 
Chrift, which refts upon little more than 
oral tradition. I have obferved that the 
relative fituation of one ftate with ano¬ 
ther, muft, without doubt, have great 
influence on the manners, and even fenti- 
ments, of both nations. Civilization has 
gradually travelled from the South to the 
North; oppofing itfelf, as it were, to the 
ordinary progrefs of conqueft. Afia taught 
Europe, giving leflons to Greece her firft- 
born child; and that lovely female, the 
darling pride of nature, communicated her 
knowledge to Italy. The conquerors of 
the world fpread civilization through Gaul, 
till at laft it reached the molt northern 
points of Britain. Thule, at laft, has in- 
deed had her hiftorians and rhetoricians*. 


* Gallia coujidicos docu’t facunda B fit anno s , 

De conducendo loquitifr jam rhetore Thule . 

s' 

Juv. Sat. 15. 

F 3 
^ o 


1 


54 


LETTERS ON THE 


I 


\ ^ l 

The relative fituation of one ftate with 

i 

another has thus always demonftrated its 
influence on the manners, and even fenti- 
ments, of its neighbour. France has cer- 
tainly operated confiderably, in thefe re- 
fpedls, upon England. It is faid, and with 
truth, to have forwarded our refinement, 

f 

diredted our tafte, and, in every fenfe, to 
have been a cradle and nurfery to the na¬ 
tion- gentis incunabula nojlra . 

■> ' \ 

This principle will well account for 
that portion of civilization which I have 
obverved is adlually found amongft the rich 
and powerful in Ireland. Our colonifts 
have carried it over from the mother coun¬ 
try, and the education of the child has 
followed up that of the parent. But 
this refinement of manners has never crept 

. _ i 

into the great mafs of the people. Other 
nations have advanced in all the arts of 



I 


IRISH NATION. 55 

\ \ 

I ’ ) 

polilhed life by infenfible degrees; but the 
bulk of the Irifh nation is fill almoft at a 
Hand. The natives of that country, the 
defendants, as it feems probable, of its 
aborigines, fill remain the fame rude 
barbarians that our earlieft accounts de- 
fcribe them. I fhall have little difficulty 
in defcribing this character, as it may be 
depictured in the fame few words with 
that of all nations who have been feen in 
a fate of ignorance and barbarity. 

1. If we ftudy the manners of the an¬ 
cient Germans, in Tacitus; or of the Tartar 
tribes, asdefcribed by the French miffion- 
aries and travellers; or of the modern 
American Indians, as they have been often 

r 

* 

feen by our colonifts in the North, and cir¬ 
cumnavigators in the South ; it is impoffi- 
ble that we fhould not be flruck with the 
refemblance which they bear to each other. 

E 4 


< 


$6 LETTERS ON THE 

The caufe may be traced to the plain and 
fimple operations of nature. ‘ As the ap¬ 
petites of a quadruped/ fays Gibbon, ‘may 
be more eafily afcertained than the fpecu- 
lations of a philofopher; fo the favage tribes 
of mankind, as they approach nearer to 
the condition of animals, preferve a 
ftronger refemblance to themfelves and to 
each other. The uniform liability of their 
manners is a natural confequence of the im¬ 
perfection of their faculties. Reduced to 
afimilar fituation, their wants, theirdefires, 

their enjoyments, are all the fame.’ Some 
fpeculative writers in confidering this fub- 
jeft have gone fo far as to fay, that per¬ 
haps it would fometimes be an happy 
circumftance if a certain depravity in hu¬ 
man nature did not prevent a perfect fimi- 
litude between the barbarian and the pro- 
cefs of inftinft in the brute creation. It 


IRISH NATION. 57 

It muft undoubtedly be conceded that 

there are certain advantages which inftinCt 

♦ 

muft be allowed to pofifefs, even over the 
moft boafted refinements of civil fociety. 
It was the opinion of Plutarch, that the 
fimplicity to be met with in the actions 
of our fellow-creatures, fhews nature pure 
and untainted ; neither difguifed with art, 
nor clouded with paflion; neither dallied 
withphilofophy, nor corrupted with a mul¬ 
tiplicity of contradictory opinions *. The 
celebrated philofopher of Geneva would 
no doubt have coincided in this fentiment. 
Indeed he feems to have proceeded upon it 

in feveral of the extraordinary opinions 

* 

refpefting the ftate of nature, which he 
has publifhed to the world. If fimplicity 
in morals or in politics is indeed the cri- 

a 

terion of excellence, we fhall find that if 


* De amore prolis. 


58 


LETTERS ON THE 


we carry the analogy from the brute to 

the vegetable creation, it is there Hill far- 

\ 

ther difcernible. It is obvious that the 

' / ' , # v ; ' 

vegetable world is in a manner tied 

down by the root to preferve an unifor- 

* * „ ' 

mity of nature, without fenfe or even in- 
ftindt to miflead it. But thefe analogies 
are abfurd in their application and dange¬ 
rous in their confequences. It is the ob¬ 
ject of morality to lift human nature {till 
higher than it is, rather than to debafe it 

{till lower. But morality is inefficient for 

# 

this purpofe without the aid of religion. 
Unaffifted reafon is the molt fallacious of 

I } || 

all guides. Although it is {tiled the great 
director ol the human fpecies, it is always 
hunting after new roads to happinefs and 
is never content with the old ones ; a fuffi- 
cient proof (if proof were wanting) of its 
complete inadequacy and infufficiency. 
But to return from this digreffion, into 


I 


IRISH NATION. 59 

which the hypothecs of Plutarch infalli¬ 
bly led me, it will not require that great 
writer’s zeal for parallelifm to difcover 
almoft the fame traits of character in the 
poor peafantry of Ireland, which diftin- 
guifh every uncivilifed people. The in- 

1 

fluence of nature has not been fubdued, 
but in many refpedts perpetuated, by the 
operation of moral caufes. And yet this 

s 

1 

is extraordinary, when we come to confi- 
der the fubjedt. Africa, Tartary, and Si¬ 
beria, have always been countries in a 
Hate of barbarifm ; and the reafon which 

1 

has been affigned for it by Adam Smith 
is, that * they are inland countries, nei- 

s' * * 

ther inclofmg large feas and gulfs in their 
bofoms, like the Baltic and Mediterranean, 
nor rivers capable of carrying commerce 
and communication through them by the 
means of navigation.’ But Ireland is 
bountifully fupplied by Providence with 


6 o 


LETTERS ON THE 


almoft every advantage of this fort. Her 

4 

harbours are almoft innumerable, and her 
navigable rivers fuperior, both in number 
and magnitude, to thofe of Great Britain. 
How her femi-barbarifm (as it has been 
called) fhould then ftill exift, may appear 
inconceivable. But I fhall explain this 
feeming paradox in my two next letters. 
At prefent I content myfelf with obferv- 
ing, that, though the condition and man- 

i 

ners of the Irifh do not prefent us with 
that appearance of an aflociated band of 
warriors which the political fociety of the 
German tribes formerly gave them, and 
which is ftill feen in North America; nor 

V 

with that pleafmg idea of a numerous and 

, , ' \ 

increafing family, which the Tartar tribes 
have always fuggefted to the mind of the 
philofopher; although they more approxi¬ 
mate to the degraded ftate of a horde of 
Hottentots: yet I am perfuaded, that in 


IRISH NATION. 


6 1 

the three important articles of habitation, 
diet, and difpofition, /there will be found 
a £reat refemblance. If the effects of 

o , 

I 

government and religion could be fuf- 
pendcd, the parallel w'ould be perfect. 
They would, under different circum- 
ftances, prefent us with the picture of the 
fhepherd and of the warrior. 

^ i 

2. The Irifh peafant lives in a low, nar¬ 
row hut, called a cabin; which is built of ' 
the llightefl: materials, cemented with 
clay, and thatched with ftraw. It is ge- 

i 

nerally .without glafs to its windows, or a 
door to fhut out the wind and rain. It 
feldom enjoys the convenience of a chim¬ 
ney, fo that the fmoke is feen afcending 
through every quarter of the roof. In 
this cold and comfortlefs habitation, the 
two fexes promifcuoufly herd together. 
Thefe narrow precindls muft not only af¬ 
ford fhelter to a wife and family, but they 


j 


LETTERS ON THE 


62, 

muft alfo inclofe within them his live flock, 
if indeed the peafant rifes in worldly for¬ 
tune to the poffeffion of a cow or a pig. 

Thefe enjoyments of property are thus, like 

* .* . 

all other human advantages, tempered 
with a proportionate ftiare of inconve¬ 
niences. They deprive him of fo much 

room in his cabin. The whole family are 

✓ 

obliged to live under the fame roof. Chil- 

/ 

dren and pigs may indeed, and always do, 
eat, drink, and fleep together. But a ftall 
muft be provided for a cow, by portioning 
off part of the cabin. The peafant, though 
he may poffefs half a rood of land, cannot 

parcel it off for the purpofe, becaufe it 

\ 

would rob him fo far of the fource of his 

t ' 

fubfiftence. This naturally leads me to 
confider that fubjecft. 

3. The diet of the Irifti peafantry is 

✓ 

chiefly vegetables; his fubfiftence depend¬ 
ing on a fmall fpot of ground, which he 


IRISH NATION'. 63 

1 

generally fows with potatoes. Bread, 
which conftitutes the ordinary and whole- 

fome food of a civilifed people, he is al- 

\ ✓ 

moft a ftranger to. It can only be obtain¬ 
ed by agriculture, which is here at its 
loweft ebb; the lands being, as I have 
before obferved, almoft wholly thrown 
into pafture for cattle. But perhaps it 
might therefore be reafonably expected, 
that the peafant would often enjoy the 
nourifhment of animal food. But the 
fad: is other wife : he is almoft a ftranger to 
it. His poverty w T ill not allow him to live 
upon that which is one of the great trading 
commodities of the country. If he poftefled 
cattle, he muft fell them to make up his 
heavy rents: when he is without them, 

where can he obtain the means of pur- 

\ 

chafing them? The confequence of this 
is, that the peafant ftarves in the midft of 
plenty. Whilft the beaft of the field is 


LETTERS ON THE 


6 4 

fattened, the man is often feen famifhing. 
And yet, notwithftanding this fcarcity of 
animal food, and entire dependence on 
roots for fubfiftence, it muft be confefled 
that the peafantry are naturally an healthy 
and robuft race of men. Their limbs are 
well formed, and they poflefs great ftrength 

. * HJ \ 

of body. The medical world may with 
reafon confider thefe two circumftances 

as convincing proofs, that a vegetable diet 

\ 

is at leaft as fully congenial to nature as 
any other. 

4. If we proceed from thefe external 
circumftances to examine the furniture of 
the peafant’s mind, his difpofition, and the 
qualities of his heart; we fhall find him 
miferably deftitute of fear, reafon, and 
often of humanity. His poverty and op- 
preffion necelfarily make him a prey to 
the mean and ferocious vices. He is the 
Have of ignorance and fuperftition, which 


» 


IRISH NATION. 



will generally be found infeparably con¬ 
nected together. The Roman Catholic 
prielt is the petty tyrant of each village. 
But his authority does not create that re¬ 
ligious, orderly, decent, and dignified 
conduCl which Chriflianity produces in 
England. There is no where to be feen 
that orderly obfcrvance of the Sabbath, 
which, to a traveller in Great Britain, 
befpeaks the mild influence of religion. 
On the contrary, the lower dalles of the 
people are a prey to that grofs, irrational 
fort of fuperftition which has little ten- 

• . j / > * 

dency to enlighten the mind, to curb the 
paflions, or to regulate the conduCt. The 
empire of the prielt is founded on the 
fears and the obfervances of his followers. 
It is a throne whofe ‘ Rubble pillars’ are 
concealed by the gloomy darknefs of ig- 

* j ' ■ • < / \ 

noraace and credulity. The ceremonies of 


I 


i 


66 


LETTERS 02ST THE 


Worfhip are mere mechanical operations, 
confuting of exterior practices, in which 
the mind has no concern, and which have 
therefore been often compared to the pa¬ 
gan idolatry of antiquity. It is founded 
on the paffions, and its effe&s are moft 
vifible in creating and keeping alive a 

0 . . * 

bitter fpirit of intolerance. I know that 

® - . \ 

the heart of man cannot in any country, 
generally fpeaking, bear a religious void ; 
but here it feems fupplied by a fyflem of 

• / ** ' ' • •' Hf j 

blind and implicit reliance on the direc¬ 
tions of a godly father. He regulates 
their wants in this life, and directs their 
fears of hopes of the next. He fells them 
the abfolution of their fins, or refigns 
them to the pit of damnation. They can 

S I 

entertain little dread of incurring ftains 

f \ 

which may be eafily wiped away. It is 
faith, rather than works, which, to judge 


IRISH NATION. 


67 

from their characters'and conduct, feems 
to be confidered as achieving the glorious 
reward of falvation. On the aflurance of a 
mortal man, and that often a venal one, 
they build their hopes of divine favour. On 
the worfhip of a few wooden images 
(falfe idols, before which they bow), 

. 1 

the imaginary patronage of fome tutelary 
faint, ftated failings, prayers, together 
with a few other abfurd rites and ceremo¬ 
nies, they reft their hopes of a bleffed 
immortality. 

If this fyftem of religion could make 
the people more fober, devout, and orderly, 
it would deferve the higheft commenda- 

tion. If it could remove that intern- 

« / 

perate behaviour fo univerfal, and har- 
monife the manners of three millions of 
people, the gratitude of the enlightened 
part of mankind would unite them in its 

Fs 



68 


LETTERS ON THE 


commendation. The philofopher muft 
approve of every religion which makes a k 
better man. Perhaps neither the Tal¬ 
mud, nor the Koran, deferve reprobation, 
when confidered in a worldly point of 
view, as a code of laws, and apart from 
truths of a more fublime and celeftial na¬ 
ture. But the effedl of the Catholic fu- 
perftition on the Irifh, is to plunge their 
minds in the darknefs and gothic igno¬ 
rance of the 13th century. Had Great 
Britain ftill continued the prey of papal 
tyranny, it is probable that it would have 
been at prefent buried in that fame gloo¬ 
my ignorance. We fhould not have been 
able to boaft of our Bacon, our Locke, 
or our Newton. The philofophy of the 

I 

latter we undoubtedly fhould never have 

1 1 

had produced, fince it is well known^ that 

/ N .1 

Galileo, who went upon the fame princi- 

1 ST £ 


1 


IRISH NATION. 


I 


/ 


6 9 

pies with the fyftem of Copernicus, was 
obliged to renounce them as a dangerous 

and damnable herefy, becauie they feemed 

* • 

inconfiftent with the motion of the Sun 

as mentioned in the old Teftament. But 

. - . ' ' ' 1 

it is not merely as a barrier to knowledge 

that I difapprove of this religion in Ireland. 
What is perhaps of equal importance is, 
that it makes them the dupes of artful 
demagogues, who affume the cloak of the 

\ _ ' 7 r 

ecclefiaftical profeffion. It is the charac* 

i 

ter of every rude nation to be led by its 
priefts. By this religion, are often inflamed 
thofe fierce paffions which fornetimes 

r 

break out with the moil fanatical fury in 
all the horrors of civil war. 

i 

i 

5. There is but one feature more which 

I have to add to this degraded character, 

/ 

and which we fhall invariably find to cha- 

♦ 

rafterize the manners of a people in a 

F 3 


\ 


7 ° 


t 


LETTERS ON THE 

i ' 

ft ate of ignorance and poverty. I mean 
that extraordinary 'indolence , fo much ex¬ 
claimed againft in the Irifh nation. A 
leading caufe of this vice is a chara&erif- 
tic to which I have before at fome length 
adverted. This is that extraordinary na¬ 
tional pride and that vanity of high de- 
feent wdiich fo much prevails amongft the 
people. Perhaps there is nothing wdiich 
is fo much calculated to palfy the arm of 

virtuous induftry as the pride of birth, 

/ 

notwithstanding it is often, as I have before 
allowed, a preventive of crime. But this 
political effedt, this deftrudtive idlenefs 
wdiich feems almoft infeparable from it, 
may undoubtedly be counteracted by mo¬ 
ral caufes. To agriculture and trade and 

civilization we can alone look for a re- 

\ 

moval of this defeat. Induftry is nothing 
but a habit, and thefe are capable of lead- 


IRISH NATION. * 


71 

mg to the formation of it. They are the 
principles which expand and exercife the 
faculties of the mind, and e lhake off that 
lethargy which creeps over the fenfes of 
barbarous nations.’ Whether we trace the 
character of the German, as delineated 
by the pencil of Tacitus, or actually be¬ 
hold the Irifli boor; we fhall find them 
both the fame flothful beings. When 
the uneafinefs which fuch a ftate of exif- 
tence muft naturally create, leads them to 
action, it muft often be to a&s of murder 

and rapine. Their difpofitions accommo- 

* * 

date themfelves in an extraordinary man¬ 
ner to the oppofite extremes of indolence 
and turbulent aggreffion*. The moment 

they ceafe to be defpicable, they become 

\ l( 

* \ 

* Mira diverfitate naturae cum iidem homines 
fic ament inertiam et oderunt quietem.— Tac. de 
morib. Germ. 

t 

F 4 




LETTERS ON THE 


objects of dread and danger. An eloquent 
writer who well knew and commife- 
rated the condition of thefe unfortunate 
men, in defcribing their excefles, accounts 
at the fame time for the caufe of them, in 
thefe words: ‘ The nation (fays he) is at 
prefent divided into two almoft diftindl 
bodies, with little common intereft, iym- 
pathy, or connexion. One of thefe pof- 
fefles all the franchifes, all the property, 
all the education: the other is compofed 
- of drawers of water and cutters of turf for 
them. Are we to be aftonifhed, that when 
they are reduced to a mob, if they happen 
to act at all, they will adl exadtly like a 
mob, without temper, meafure, or fore- 
fight*?’ 

I have now finifhed that hafty fketch 
♦Burke’s Works, v. iii. p. 548,410 edit. 


IRISH NATION. 


73 

of the features which feem to me, fince 
I have been in Ireland, to {lamp the cha- 
rafter of the lower dalles of the people, 
and feparate them from the rich part of 
the nation. I may draw this conclufion 
from the examination of them both : The 
polilhed minority of the nation is one 
hundred years behind England in refine¬ 
ment, and the rude majority of it is atleaft 
five. With many noble qualities of the 
heart, there is {till much remaining for the 
How T operation of laws and civilization to 

• . i ♦ 

effeft. The virtues of courage and gene- 
rofity are dimmed and obfcured by a cloud 
of vices. With the rich, a relaxed lyftem 

of morality is aided by the artificial varnifh 

, / 

of fafhionable manners and thofe advan- 
tages which I have allowed that the laws 
of honour may and do carry with them, 
notwithflanding their mixture of evil. 


74 


LETTERS ON THE 


With the poor it is replaced by the 
grofifeft fuperftition. How much the rich 
have benefited by the exchange, I leave 
you to determine. As for the poor, I 
think they muft be acknowledged dread¬ 
ful lofers by it. Perhaps there is fome 
truth in the opinion of Lord Verulam, 
that ‘ athelfm is better than fuperftition; 
for a man is then left to fenfe, to philofo- 
phy, to natural piety, to laws and to re¬ 
putation; all which may be guides to an 

• » - 
outward moral virtue. But fuperftition 

difmounts all thefe, and erects an abfolute 

monarchy in the mind of men*.’ 

Civil difcords have alfo injured the caufe 
of religion, and increafed the natural fero- 
city of the Irifh character. Their ten¬ 
dency is to banifti the milder qualities of 

/ ' \ 


* EfTay xviii. of Superflition. 


IRISH NATION. 75 

the heart, and to familiarize the mind to 
reflections at which it would naturally re¬ 
volt with horror. A proportionate degra¬ 
dation of the morals and manners takes 
place, till at length the individual contem¬ 
plates or engages in fcenes of maflacre and 
devaftation without feeling any emotions 
of fear or remorfe. 

For my own part, I cannot conclude 
this long letter ( which' is fhort, confider- 
ing how extenfive the nature of the fub- 
jeCt of it is), without again repeating, 
that I do not know of any country where 
the character of the people is more fitted 
by nature, than is that of the Irifh, for 
the higheft attainments in moral or intel¬ 
lectual excellence. The bountiful hand 
of the Almighty has given the materials; 

it mufl be the care of a legiflator to form 

\ 

and fafliion them. That there is a great 


LETTERS ON THE 


;6 

portion of talent given them, may be 
judged of from the numerous and bright 
line of examples which they have given 
to the world. There is a long lift of 
poets, philofophers, and hiftorians, w 7 hofe 

very names compofe a galaxy of fhining 

✓ 

ftars in the firmament of literature. With 

what pleafure could I dwell on the learn- 

v 

ing of Archbifllop Ulher; the wit, eccen¬ 
tricity, and knowledge, of Swift; the pene¬ 
tration, judgment, and benevolent patri- 
otifm of Bifliop Berkeley; the artlefs fim- 
plicity and naivete of Sterne; the verfatile 

* y 1 

talents of the good-natured Goldfmith ; 

s 

the fplendid eloquence and excellent mo¬ 
rals of Burke ; not to mention a crowd of 
elegant poets, claffic writers, and fprightly 
dramatifts, fome of which are now living, 
but many more gone to fwell the lift of 
departed Irifh worthies. 


IRISH NATION. 


77 


It is true that within thefe few years 

1 

the Irifh have highly diftinguifhed them*- 
felves in literature, but it has generally 
been under the foftering hand of Britifh 
governments. At home they have fel- 
dom made any figure. Even the Royal 
Irifh Academy has never yet brought to 
light any thing extraordinary for genius, 
tafte, or learning. A leading caufe of the 
very few works of merit which appear in 

i 

Ireland remains to be mentioned. This 
is the want of an act of the legifla- 
ture to protect the copy-right of authors. 
It is unneceflary to add that genius will 
always beft flourifti, and learning be moll 
cultivated, where the rewards of it are 
leafl; liable to uncertainty either in their 
nature or their continuance. 

That this lhould never have been fuffi- 
ciently attended to in Ireland, appears to 

1 


/ 


/ 


78 


LETTERS ON THE 


me extraordinary, when I confider the ta¬ 
lents and knowledge which are often found 
there,. There may be more good fenfe 
in England, but there is wanting the 
life and energy of the Iriffi character. 

i ' * 

* Strong paffions awaken the faculties, and 
fuffer not a particle of the man to be loft.* 

That they poffefs thofe warm paffions 

* 

and fentiments which may be diredted to 
the higheft moral energies, I have alrea¬ 
dy made appear. Virtue has been fhewn 
to be nothing but paffion difciplined by 
reafon and good habits. Ariftotle has 
even called it ‘ reflefting appetite/ and 
‘ impaffioned intellect*/ From this af- 

N 

fociation then proceeds all that is 

% 

amiable, and all that is honourable, 
in fociety. From this co-operation the 


* Ethics to Nicomachus, 


IRISH NATION. 


79 


head acquires wifdom, and the heart tem¬ 
perance, fortitude, andjuftice. Whether 
you confider the happinefs of individuals 
or of nations, it will be found in both to 
arife from the fame fources. If you im¬ 
prove the man in knowledge and virtue, 
you thereby improve the Hate in them. 

By this a ftate arrives at that which is the 

\ 

ftandard of polifh and urbanity; of that 
elegance without luxury, and that refine¬ 
ment without effeminacy which Pericles 
thought the peculiar glory of his age and 
country'*. There is a chain in fociety, 
which plainly accounts for it. * Men form 
the rudiments of families ; families confti- 
tute the elements of ftates; and in every 
fjftem the parts will be found by their 
refpective excellencies to promote the per¬ 
fection and harmony of the whole.’ 

I am, &c. &c. 


* Oratio Funeb. in Thucyd. 


LETTERS ON THE 


• 8o 

LETTER IL 

ON THE PRACTICAL MERITS OF THE 
GOVERNMENT, &C. &C. 

My dear Sir, 

There is no nation in the 

i 

world where the effects of jarring and dif- 

* 

cordant interefts are fo vifible, as in the one 

where I am at prefent an Englidi traveller. 

• / 

They force themfelves upon the attention 
of the moft fuperficial obferver. The ani- 
mofities of the people are fo great and 
irreconcileable, that a moft important and 
inftru&ing leffon of politics is to be ga- 
thered from the collifion. You may con¬ 
clude that I was eager to take advantage 
of it, and to glean every information on a 

s/ 1 ,"t 

fubjeft which from its importance to hu- 


IRISH NATION. 


81 


man happinefs deferves the deepeft con- 
fideration. 

I fet myfelf therefore attentively to 
work, in order to difcover what were the 
caufes of thefe contending interefts and 

• i - 

unhappy diflenfions, which for fo long a 
time have diftrafted Ireland. I foon found 
that they might almoft all be traced to 
the eftablifhment of an Englifh govern¬ 
ment over it, not merely becaufe it was 
Englifh in its birth, but becaufe its growth 

as well as its adoption were merely for 
, * 

the benefit of thofe who were of Engliih 

1 . ' w 

origin. As I have in my preceding letter 
endeavoured to give you fome idea of this 
people in their individual capacities, as 

men, I fhall devote the prefent one to the 

* » 

defign of confidering them in their politi¬ 
cal fituation, as citizens. The difcttffion 

V ' , 

is indeed difficult and perplexing, lince it 

G 


LETTERS ON THE 


Sz 

has divided the opinions of the greateft 
ftatefmen of the age we live in. I fhall 
however endeavour to narrow it as much 
as poffible. It will be my aim to tread 

4 

over fuch ground as I cannot flip of ftum- 

ble on, to choofe fuch a path as I cannot 

/ 

eafily wander from; and where I do deviate 

out of the beaten road, it will be, like a 

v / 

faithful traveller, only to notice fuch fails 
and objeils as I think worth deferibing. 

But perhaps it will be obferved to me 
in this political outfet: ‘ Unlefs your 
mind is unprejudiced by erroneous theories, 
you will fee things through a falfe medium 
and with diftempered optics. It is there¬ 
fore necefiary that you fhould firft exa¬ 
mine into the flrength of the bafis upon 

which you build, left the fuperftruilure 

* 

--. 

fhould be weak, from the tottering foun¬ 
dation upon which it reftsf 


IRISH NATION. 


83 

My anfwer is ready: I acknowledge 

the truth of the intimation, and think my 

» ' v - 

felf in juflice bound to declare the princi¬ 
ples upon which I fet out. Why Ihould 

> r \ 

I not glory in an opportunity of difavow- 
ing the moft peftilential political tenets 
that ever over-ran the world. I feel an 
equal pride in breaking a lance either 
againft the abfurd lyflem which upholds 

defpotifm, or that which juftifies popular 

( 

phrenly. The reign of the Houfe of 
Stuart ought to furnilh to every Englifh- 
- man a commentary on the one, and the 
excelfes of the French Revolution on the 
other. But that religious fyltem which 
deduced paffive obedience from the at¬ 
tempt to trace government up to the 

* 

Deity, has now long flept amongft the 
dully volumes of our libraries, and a plii- 
lofophical one has llarted up in its place 
which rells the foundation of political 

G 2, 


84 LETTERS ON THE 

authority upon Contract. The former 

f * • / ’■ ‘ . ' 

will probably be never again awakened 
into life, although the darling child of 
modern times is not likely to be long- 
lived. Both Hobbes and Rouifeau, the 
guardians and champions of it, have drawn 
altogether oppolite confequences, though 
equally dangerous ones, from the fame 
principle. Nothing can fo much expole 
the weaknefs of political principles as a 
contrariety in the inferences w T hich are 
made from them. From thofe in quef- 
tion have been deduced on the one hand 
a fyftem of defpotifm, and on the other 
a government of diforder and uncontrouled 
dicentioufnefs.- The focial contract how¬ 
ever of Rouifeau does not merit the ap¬ 
pellation of a political fyftem, becaufe a 
lyftem ex vi ter mint implies order and 
confiftency*. 

* Si on fe donnait la peine de lire attentivement 


IRISH NATION. 85 

When to the thus admirably illuftra- 
tive gloffes of thefe two political navi¬ 
gators, from whofe difcoveries a new world 
has indeed been made known to us, 
(but has been a world of mifery); is added 
the light which reafon and experience 
have thrown upon the fubjcCt; I think 
it will be found that in thefe Northern 
iflands the accompanying antidote will be 
pov/erful enough for the poifon. Be¬ 
tween the powers of action and reaction I 
truft that our minds will be kept found and 
healthy. The confequences of erroneous 
fyftems of politics, like the exceffes of the 

human body, generally afford their own 

/ ' • / 

remedy. The unbiaffed inquirer after 

truth is brought back to fome v ftandard 

* 0 

from whence he has been infenfibly led 

cc livre du Contrat Social, il n’y a pas un page 
ou Ton ne trouvat des erreurs ou de§. contradictions. 
•—Voltaire Idee Repub lie aine* Note to 2nd edit. 

g 3 ' 


86 


LETTERS ON THE 


aftray; or introduced to that true ftandard 
which is fan&ioned and confirmed by the 
experience of ages. 

I have thought it neceflary to enter into 

. . ■ •; i • , 

this explanation, left I fhould be thought 

to difapprove of the Irifh government on 

* / 

account of its having been originally forced 

i 

on the great majority of the nation, and 
ftill continuing inimical to what they 
confider their lawful interefts. If the 
confent of the majority was indeed eflen- 
tial to the eftablifhment of every lawful 
government, that of Ireland is undoubt¬ 
edly a tyranny. But as I am perfuaded 
that no fuch neceffity exifts, and that if it 
did, there is no government in the world 
which could ftand the teft of it; I do not 

v f 

condemn the Irifh on any fuch grounds. 

- 1 . / ' • 

There is no better guard againft fo grand 

a miftake in politics and others of a ftmilar 


i 


IRISH NATION. 


87 


nature, together with the dangerous con¬ 
fluences which may be deduced from 
them, than a right apprehenfion of firft 
principles. To avoid the errors of modem 

1 

innovators, mankind have been driven 

\ 

back to the writings of Ariftotle. That 

1 . 

extraordinary philofopher, whofe fame is 
now as frefli as it was two thoufand years 

ago, mult be again called in, to infi:ni 6 l 

/ > * 

the moderns in a fcience, in which, after 
fo long an interval of time, they have yet 
made no improvements, but have rather 
deviated into the grofleft miflakes and 

errors. From the writings of that great 

\ 

genius we are then taught to confider the 
origin of government, not as the work of 
- art or of intellect, much lefs as the relult 
of contrail; but as the confequence of a 

natural inftinftive impulfe towards com- 

/ . » 

fort, convenience, and fecurity. Govcrn- 

G 4 


88 


LETTERS ON.THE 


ment was not made, created, or cove¬ 
nanted about, but arofe out of human na- 

\ — 

ture. It is coeval with fociety, and fociety 
is coeval with man. The hiftories of the 
origin of almoft every nation, as far as 
they can be traced back, confirm this hypo¬ 
thecs. From the almoft infenfibly gradu¬ 
al coalition of a few hunters or fifhers, the 
government of every nation has taken its 

rife. Laws indeed, which were afterwards 

♦ 

added, are artificial aids and contrivances 
firft introduced to prop and fupport this 
natural inftitution or new~-made govern- 
ment. Hiftory even goes fo far as to 
inform us that the firft government of 
every nation was of a monarchical nature, 
and without laws, becaufe the will of the 
prince was in the place of all law*. 

"i 

*Nullae civitati leges erant, quia libido regum 
pro legibus habebatur. Just. Hift. 1. z. 



* 


IRISH NATION. 


89 


With laws commenced liberty and fe- 
curity, for they thwart, controul and fub- 
jedt, the paffions of individuals, in order to 
prevent their injuring fociety. But the 
origin of political fociety is totally diftinft. 
As it was dictated by nature, and chenlhed 
by a convidtion and fenfe of its utility, fo 

that fame principle of general convenience 

/ ' 

t 

which, for the well-being of mankind, 
neceffarily gave rife to government, ftill 
holds it together, and muft ever continue 

to do fo. Utility is thus the moral 

" \ \ „ 

principle upon which the obedience of 
citizens and the protection of magiftrates 
reft. It was nature which eftablifned the 
fubordinations of fervant to matter, of fa¬ 
mily to father, and of w r ife to hufband. 
Thefe three branches of domeftic economy 

are the germe of all government: Princi - 

>, - 

plum Urbis et quajiSeminarium Reipublicce*. 

* See Cicero’s Offices, b. 1. c. 17. 


9° 


LETTERS ON THE 


But in every ftate there are certain in- 

terefts which are contending with each 

/ 

other for a preponderance, and from the 

» 1 • 

elevation of one of which, or the combi¬ 
nation of two or of the whole, the govern- 

i 

ment receives its peculiar character and 
denomination. Thefe three principles 
are talents, wealth, and numbers; birth 
being nothing more than the inheritance 
of a title to the rewards bellowed upon 
cither of the two firft. The bell govern- 

i ' 

ment mull obviouily be that in which 

thefe three principles have their juft 

- * ( 

preponderance, diftindtions, and honours. 

But to proceed: Experience has proved 

• » — 

that this equilibrium can alone be pre- 
fervcd by the cftablifliment of different 
bodies, to each of which muft be affigned 
the gnardianfhip of one of the above 

i 

three principles, and a fuperintending dif- 

■ i - < 

truft andjealoufy of the other two. This 

’6 , . ■ 


I 


IRISH NATION. 91 

1 

is in other words nothing lefs than that 
government of check and controul which 
is c emphatically called free, becaufeno one 
principle is exalted on the depreffion of 
the others.’ It has therefore been well 
faid, that in governments, fimplicity is 
defpotifm, and combination the only 
fource of liberty*. The reafon of this is, 
that in the iimple forms of government, 
(which is the firft cafe), power, and the 
controul of that power, are vefted in the 
fame hand ; whereas in the mixed govern¬ 
ments (which is the latter cafe), they are 
placed in different hands. And though the 
prefervation of the three principles, or of 
that juft weight which talents, property, 
and numbers, fhould have, is entrufted to 
bodies termed monarchical, ariftocratical, 


* Macauley’s Rudiments of Politics, 


9* 


LETTERS ON THE 


and democratic ; ftill the government does 
not difcontinue to be the lefs founded in 
nature and utility. Its origin alfo ftill 
continues the fame, though its genealogy 
is a little more extended, and its moral 

principle, upon which depends the obe- 

\ * 

dience of the fubject and the authority 
of the government, like the old leaden 

ruler of the Lefbian architecture, equally 

. / 

accommodates itfelf to every form. 

Thus it is that in the Politics of Ari- 

ftotle, in whofe writings the above pri 1- 

\ 

ciples are all bottomed, we fee the embryo 
of the Britifh Conftitution. It is a vul- 
gar error to fuppofe that philofopher was 
unacquainted with the advantages of a 
balanced government, of a government of 
check and controul, or even of a reprefen- 
tative one*. There is not the leaft foun- 

* See the Preface to Dr. Gillies’s Arillotle. 


IRISH NATION. 


93 


I 


dation to fuppofe, that they had efcaped 
the notice of fo deep an obferver 

Thus you fee, my dear Sir, I proceed to 
inquire into the ftate of Irifh Politics, with 
a mind holding in equal indifference the 
principles and the conclufions flowing from 
that divine right which kings have fet up, 

i 

and that dodfrine of contract which the 
populace oppofe to it. I have proved my 
right, an unprejudiced.mind with an in¬ 
dependent fpirit, the paffport to any in¬ 
quiry. You will fee that I have not 


I cannot refrain from embracing this opportunity 
of acknowledging my obligations to Mr. Mackintofh, 
for the light which he has thrown on Ariiiotle’s Poli¬ 
tics. The lateft, the moft elegant, and perhaps the 
beft commentary, or rather almoft paraphrafe , ever 
made of thefe political writings was delivered by Mr. 
Mackintolh in the courfe of his Ledtures on the Law 
of Nature and Nations, in Lincoln’s-Inn Hall, laft 
winter. I am happy in paying this tribute of applaufe 
to an undertaking, at the execution of which 
out I had the fatisfadlion of being prelent. 


through- 



l 




\ 


I 


94 LETTERS ON THE 

- ' ' 

adopted private, but general advantage, as 
the ftandard by which I have regulated 
my obfervations, and have meafured the 

inferences which I have drawn from 

% \ 

them. 

The prevalent form of government 
which is found to exift in any nation is, 
indeed, a fubjedl, to underftand the na¬ 
ture of which thoroughly often requires 
fome trouble, and is attended with great 
difficulty. But the criterion of the prac¬ 
tical excellence of every government is 
level to the obfervation and capacity of 
all men. The ftate of the people is 
the mirror in which its merits or deme- ’ 

rits may be always read. This is a 
> / ■ 
ftandard w r hich no accidental circum- 

ftances can vary. 

Whatever then may be the preponder¬ 
ance which a government gives to talents. 




/ 


, • • . I 

t 

IRISH NATION. 95 

to property, or to numbers, different mo¬ 
difications of which three antagonift prin¬ 
ciples make the differences in all the 
conftitutions of Europe; there neverthe- 
lefs muff remain two immutable and eter- 
nal rules, by which its practical merits are 
to be decided. The firft of thcfe flows 
from the nature of man, and is this: 

A » 

‘ Under a good government the middle 
rank of people always moji abounds.’ The 
fccond rule fprings from the moft approved 
principles of politics, and the very effence 
of a balanced government. It is this: 
6 Under a government well adminiftcred, 
it is always difficult to afcertain to which 
of the three fimple forms of government 
the conftitution moji approximates 

. * 1 

It is impoffible to entertain a doubt that 


* See Ariftotle’s Politics, book the iixth- 


96 LETTERS ON THE 

• 1 # ' • ■ . '{> . «1' 

the moderately rich moft abounding in a 

* 

nation, is a fure teft of a good practical 
government; if we confider that wealth 

' v , . % 

produces infolence, and poverty the mean 

and ferocious vices. But moderate fortune 

♦ 

is ever found to create that happy medium 
of character which is the true ftandard of 

human happinefs. The two oppofite ex- 

' / 

tremes place mankind in a ftate of intel- * 
le&ual and moral degradation inconfiftent 
with good government. The prefumptu- 
ous arrogance and dropfied greatnefs of 
immoderate wealth is, however, worfe than 
the meannefs of pedlars or ferocity of fa- 
vages. The middle rank of people have 
alfo not only been ever found the beft guar- 

dians of public liberty, but it has always 

« 

been even found to exift in proportion to 

1 , 

their prevalence. I truft that my other 
principle, concerning balanced power, car- 




IRISH NATION. 97 

ries with it its own demonftration. It may 
be called a leading axiom under a govern¬ 
ment of check and controul. Liberty can 
only be prefervcd by the unfettered oper¬ 
ation of every wheel and member of this 
political mechanifm. All the governments 
both of antiquity and of modern times will 
be found more or lefs free as they approach 
to this model of perfection But after all 

our refearches, there will never be found 

% 

any example fo powerfully fupporting both 
thefe criterion principles as the Britilh 

Conftitution, which ftands proudly fore- 

• * 

molt and eminently confpicuous above all 
others to filence the fophift and convince 
the real philofopher. 

Such then are the two principles, drawn 

* Polybius has taken great pains to prove that 
it exifted in perfedtion in the Roman Conilitution. 
Fragm. 1. 6. 

C) 

H 


4 


gS LETTERS ON THE 

from the theory which I have firft explain¬ 
ed, by which I have examined and judged 
of the Irifh government. No difciple of 
Zoroafter could more firmly have relied 
on the truth of his two principles, than I 

have done. No devout Perfian, no fan&i- 
• ^ » 
fied minifter of the Magi, could more perti- 

nacioufly have refolved to adhere to them. 

They have been the Zendavejia* of my 

political creed. You will find that I have 

\ , 

ufed them as a clue by which I have been 
guided through the mazes and intricacies 
which are found in the labyrinth of this 
political difcullion. 

The Irifh government is, in theory, the 
rival of the Britifh conftitution: it is 

i 

formed and fafhioned upon the model of 

* The religious do&rine.of the Two Principles 
eftablifhed amongft the ancient Perfians by Zoroafter, 
was contained in a book called the Zendavefta. 


IRISH NATION. 


99 


it; but in adminiftration it differs toto cxlo . 
Inftead of being that balanced govern¬ 
ment of King, Lords, and Commons; that 
conftitution founded on a juft and equal 
regard to talents, wealth, and numbers, em¬ 
bodied in monarchical, ariftocratical, and 
democratical corporations, the refpe&ive 
interefts of which are equitably adjufted, 
and reciprocally check and controul each 
other, it is in pra&ice the corruption and 
very antipodes of them all. The truth is, 
that neither the King nor the Commons 
have any real fhare of the public authority. 
They form neceffary, and I grant even 
nominal, members of the legiflature; but 
in facft the ariftocracy has a preponderance 
which outrages the arithmetic of true 
politics. 

Neither is this ariftocracy that natural 
one which is founded on the diftindlions 


I 


IOO LETTERS ON THE 

, * * ' 

of talents, birth, or fortune, and which, 
more or lefs, muft and ought to prevail 
in every country. Virtue, whether per- 
fonal or hereditary, muft always make 

i 

diftineftions amongft men, and give a pre¬ 
eminence to thofe who are poffefled of 
them. This is a natural ariftocracy, but 
it is not the one which prevails in Ireland. 
Neither is the latter an ufurped defpotifm 
of one houfe of parliament over the other 

two members of the government. No : 

/ 

it is nothing more or lefs than a tyran- 

♦ 

nizing junto, formed out of both houfes, 
that conftitutes this odious ariftocracy, 
who have entailed the kingdom on them- 

felves. This is it which clogs and fetters 

* x 

the wheels of government. The prin¬ 
ciple upon which it is founded is Eng- 

i 

lifti defeent. The government is there¬ 
fore a complete oligarchy. Inftead of 



IRISH NATION. 


IOI 


there being any doubt as to which of the 
fimple forms of government the conftitu- 

tion inclines, there is the moft barefaced 

* • 

exhibition of the little weight which ei¬ 
ther talents or numbers poffefs when put 
into the fcales againft this birth and the 
property which has been long attached 
to it. Neither does the monarchical 
branch of the conftitution poffefs its juft 
weight and equipoife. It is altogether 
fupported by the prefence of an Englifh 
viceroy, and an Englifh minifter. Againft 
thefe two, but more particularly againft 
the latter, is the whole force and energy 
of the ariftocracy direfted. He is looked 
upon by them as an interloper, whofe 
views and interefts are diametrically op- 
pofite to, and inconfiftent with, their 
views and interefts, and who is ferving 
not them and their country, but Great 

II 3 


102 


LETTERS ON THE 


Britain and an abfent fovereign. The 
confequence of this oppofition neceflarily 
is, that the fyftem of corruption is re- 

» N 

forted to, in order to make amends for 
that want of weight and equipoife which 
the executive government ought to pof- 
fefs without reforting to fuch affiftance. 
There is a long chain of confequences 

connected with this circumftance. The 

• % 

/ 

moft important of thefe is, that the con¬ 
nexion between the two kingdoms being 
maintained by this fingle tie of unity of 
executive power, is neceflarily endan¬ 
gered. With that weak fupport which 
it receives in Ireland, if reafon did not 
therefore point out the probability of a 

complete feparation, experience immedi- 

» 

ately muft, It is frefli in the recollection 

of every one, that during the late alarm- 

/ . - 

ing indifpofition of his Majefty, the par- 


IRISH NATION. 


IO3 


liament of this country aflerted their right 
to appoint a regent of their own chooiing, 
who fliould be independent of, and dif- 
tincft from, that of Great Britain. If this 
had really taken place, the reparation of 
the two kingdoms was the inevitable 
confequence. That it would have hap¬ 
pened nothing could have poffibly pre¬ 
vented, but the happy recovery of his 

V \ 

Majefty, and the confequent refumption 
of his royal functions. 

I trufl that it is evident to you, from 

what is above faid, that the monarchical 

* ■ \ 

part of the Irilh government is too weak 
and infignificant to maintain the equi- 
poife of its theoretic conftitution. Let 
us, then, next examine the popular part 
of it. Here it will appear, that there is 
not any juft reprefentation of the people. 
Three-fourths of the population, which 

H 4 


I 


104 LETTERS ON THE 

is the proportion of the Catholics of this 

» 

country to the Proteftants, are unrepre- 
fented in parliament, if the being barred 
from electing members, the objects of 
their own free, unbiafifed choice, deferve 
(as it undoubtedly muft) to be fo called. 
They are prevented choofing fuch repre- 
fentatives as muft neceflarily moft poflefs 
their confidence, namely, members of 
their own religious community. They 
are, on the contrary, compelled to ele<3: 
proteftants, whofe interefts are as oppo-* 
fite and inimical (as are their religious* 
opinions) to thofe of the individuals for 
whom they are delegated the reprefenta- 
tives in parliament. This therefore can¬ 
not, in facft, be any real reprefentation. 
The inference which we are compelled 
to draw, therefore, is, that if the royal 
branch of the conftitution is deftitute of 

\ ' 4 ‘ V 

* ** • 


I 


' * 

IRISH NATION. IO 5 

its juft equipoife, the popular part of it is 
a mere mockery and mimicry of a demo¬ 
cracy. Both are merged and almoft ex- 
tinguilhed in an ariftocracy which was 
meant to balance and maintain them. 
Alone, and almoft undifturbed, this 
ariftocracy rules the conftitution, the 
Queen and fovereign lady of the Iriih 
nation. 

You will perceive that I have inverted 
the order into which I arranged the two 
grand principles by which I judge of the 
Irifh government, and have taken the 
liberty of difeuffing the laft of them firft. 
The reafon why I have done fo was, be- 
caufe the fadl which I have meafured by 
it, is of public notoriety. It is not necef- 
fary to have travelled into Ireland to ac¬ 
quire the knowledge of it. The exiftence 
of an odious ariftocracy in it, is known to 


I06 LETTERS ON THE 

every man on your fide of the water. But 
to apply the other principle, to obferve 
whether the middle rank does or not 
abound, a voyage acrofs the Irifli fea is 
altogether indifpenfable. In my preced¬ 
ing'letter I have endeavoured to acquaint 
you with the characters of only two or¬ 
ders of men in this country, the rich and 
the poor; becaufe there is not any inter¬ 
mediate clafs. I {hall proceed now to 
make fome further obfervations on the 
fame fubjeCt. 

Here I will be bold enough to alfert, 
that the peculiarity which moft {trikes 
every ftranger upon landing in Ireland, 
and of which I myfelf felt the full force, 
is that face of beggary, want, and wretch- 
ednefs, which every where prefents itfelf. 
For my own part, I was fo much {truck 
with the contrail; between it and the 


I 


\ 


IRISH NATION. 107 

country which I had juft quitted, that I 
could not but refle<ft, how very applica¬ 
ble would be the remark which Charles V. 
made of the relative appearance of France 
and Spain (through both of which coun¬ 
tries he had often travelled) to the com- 
parifon between England and Ireland. 

t % 

4 In the former/ faid he, ‘ every thing 
abounds; in the latter every thing feems 
to be wanting.’ Had he been crofting 

the Irifh channel, no obfervation could 

\ 

poflibly have been more applicable. 

The traveller who lands in Dublin finds 
that the ftreets are crowded with craving 
wretches, whofe diftrefles are Chocking to 
humanity, and whofe nakednefs is hurt¬ 
ful to the eye of decency. With this mi- 
fery of the low T er clafles (for in a greater 

r ' 1 1 

or a lefs degree it pervades three-fourths of 
the whole people of Ireland) is contrafted 


1 oS LETTERS ON THE 

/ 

V- 

the condition of the wealthy. Their pub¬ 
lic edifices, their palaces, their fquares, and 
the ftreets which diverge from them, and 
their equipages, are magnificent beyond 

“V _ . 

meafure. In the capital of the kingdom 
there is to be feen nothing of thofe groups 
of moderately dimenfioned houles, inhabit¬ 
ed by the middling clafles of people, and 
fuitable to a mediocrity of fortune, which 
compofe the far greater part of the city of 

London. ..The dimenfions of all the build- 

✓ - * ' * 

ings in Ireland are in oppofite extremes. 

_ i 

The eye reverts, almofl: the fame as in 
Egypt, from the pyramid to the mud- 
cottage. The air feems to be either 
* mocked with idle ftate/ or the earth 
defiled with more than Caftrarian wretch- 
cdnefs. 

I vifited the Houfes of Parliament, and 

« 

the Courts of Juftice, which conflitute 


IRISH NATION. IO 9 

two of the grandeft piles of building in all 
Dublin. But neither law nor a conftitu- 

tion can exift in edifices: if they could, 

. / 

Ireland would indeed enjoy them. But 

/ 

what are thefe boafted terms of freedom 
and juftice, but words and parchment, un- 
lefs a people have rights and property to 
be protected ? If they are only made the 
fortrefles to uphold oppreflion, they be¬ 
come a curfe inftead of a bleffing. If they 
are made the guards of property wrung 
by the tyranny of a few from the great 

mafs of the people, they are nothing but a 

k \ 

monument whofe bafis is the mifery and 

oppreffion of the nation. 

,. ■* 

I looked on the Parliament-houfe in 
Dublin with its proud Corinthian pillars, 

1 

its boaft of ancient architecture, its mag¬ 
nificent porticos, extent of building, glit¬ 
tering cupola, and crowded ftatues, which 


IIO LETTERS ON THE 

crown the whole, with delight and admira¬ 
tion. But its femicircular front of Port¬ 
land ftone, only ferves to fkreen fo many 

hundred yards of houfes which would 

£ * __ _ 

otherwife difguft the eye. I next walked 
to the Four Courts (of Juftice), and fur- 
veyed that building from the oppofite 
bank of the Liffey, to that on which the 
noble edifice bearing that name is fituated. 
I was aftonifhed at the elegance of its ex¬ 
terior, exhibiting all the embellifhments 
which architectural and fculptural fcience 
can beftow. In order to take a view of 
the interior of the building, I then croffed 
the narrow ftream of the Liffey, over a 
bridge which feems to be intended as the 
prototype of ours at Weftminfter. As 

if making my approach to an Athenian 

\ » 

temple, I afeended a lofty range of {tone 
fteps; I was foon uflaered by an Irifli 



\ 


i 


IRISH NATION. 


I I I 

Cicerone into a fplendid circular hall, 
nearly feventy feet in diameter, from which 
the four courts of juftice radiate at equal 
diftances. My eye dwelt with pride and 
admiration on fluted fhafts and Corinthian 
capitals. I enumerated the emblematical - 
devices which adorn this hall; the figning 
the great charter of our common liberties 
by King John at Runnimead, and of thofe 
of the city of Dublin by King James, with 
crowds of feudal knights and barons bold, 
armed at all points. I looked higher to¬ 
wards the roof of the building, and num¬ 
bered eight ftatues as if fupporting the 
dome. There was Liberty and Eloquence, 
Prudence and Juftice, Wifdom and Law, 

with Punifhment, and laftly Mercy, bring- 
, ■ • 
ing up the rear. Roving thus from orna¬ 
ment to ornament, from the interfering 
black and white marble fquares of the floor, 
which feemed formed like a planetarium 


II2 


LETTERS ON THE 


to revolve round a common centre, up to 
the cupola where the emulous plaifterer 

X 

had exerted all his fkill; I began to fancy 
myfelf in one of thofe fairy palaces which' 
fome ingenious romance-writers have de- 

> 1 V ~~ 

fcribed. But, by fome accident in coming 
out, the talifman was broken, and the en- 
chantment melted in a moment. The 

vifionary fabric vanifhed into air. I found 

< / 

myfelf as much furprifed as many other 
fimple knights-errant have been when they 
awakened from a fimilar trance. My 
olfadlory nerve was alfailed by the horrid 

i 

flench which arifes from the Liffey (the 
Cloaca Maxima of Dublin) ; my auditory 
nerves were aflaulted with the clamorous 
importunities of a crowd of beggars ; and 
my organs of vifion turned away with 
difgufl from every edifice and object within 
the horizon. 

a I was impatient to get into the country. 


IRISH NATION. 


11 3 


*or the accommodation which the Dublin 
hotels (they difdain the name of inns, and 

have no fuch thing) offer to ftrangers is 

/ 

moft execrable and intolerable. Ail Eng- 
lifhman, who has never travelled out of his 
own country, can form no adequate idea 
of their dirt and inconveniences. I had 
been much better accommodated in the 
moft dreary and unfrequented receffes of 
North Wales. I could not poffibly throw 
myfelf on the hofpitalityof my Irifli friends, 
becaufe at this feafon of the year they are 
in the country. I therefore followed their 
example as foon as I had feen every thing 
which Dublin could offer to the curiofity 
of a foreigner . 

Though the accommodations for tra¬ 
velling are here very inferior to thofe of 

r 

Great Britain, yet the roads are good, and 
the inns in the country are infinitely fix- 

\ i 

i 


1 14 


LETTERS ON THE 


perior to thofe of the capital. But the 
contrail between the rich and the poor, 
the lord and the peafant, is as ftrongly 
marked as it is in Dublin. But I have 
endeavoured, in my laft letter, to give 
you fome idea of this clafs of people. I 
can only add to my defcription of this 
full picture of human mifery, that 1 have 
read of the bondfmen and villeins of the 
ancient feudal fyftem, and of the boors 
and vaffals fgleba adfcriptitii), as they are 
now feen to exift in the tenures of modem 
Germany: but I cannot conceive the fitu- 
ation of either to be fo miferable as that of 
the Irifh peafantry. I am convinced that 
the condition of the Weft India negro is a 
paradife to it. The Have in our colonies 
has meat to eat, and diftilled fpirit to 
drink, whilft the life of the Irifh peafant 
is almoft that of a favage who feeds upon 


Am 

/ 


IRISH NATION. 


US 

milk and roots. His clothing, if indeed 
it deferves that name, is a iyftem of 
‘ loop’d and window’d raggednefs,’ and 
he lives in a clay-built cottage, fuch as I 
have defcribed it to you. I allure you 
that I have felt for the dignity of human 
nature, when I have beheld a race of men, 
who, in form and motion, in ftature and 
in countenance, were the pride of the Ipe- 
cies; on whofe perfons Heaven had la- 
vifhed all its favours— 

Os fublime dedit, coelumque tueri 
Juffit, et eredtos ad lidera tollere vultus: 

who are gifted with courage, with gene- 
rolity, with many heroic virtues, and al- 
moft with every thing, in outward appear¬ 
ance, which can give the world * affurance 
of men:’ to fee them, I fay, humiliated 
and degraded to fo wretched a condition. 

I am not the advocate of rebellion; but 

I % 


t 


LETTERS ON THE 


116 

r 

this I muft fay, that if fuch men as thefc 
are to be made Helots and Penefts of, and 
chained to the cultivation of the foil 

without partaking of hardly any of its 

% 

fruits; if a government fit only for the 
puny race of Afiatic climes is forced upon 
the hardy giant fons of the North; their 
lords and rulers muft expert that the 
avenging thunder will fometimes burft 
on their heads. 

Such are the fadls which in this country 
offer themfelves to view; and fuch is the 
character of the Irifh government in its 
praftical merits, which the application of 
thefe two principles therefore obliges us to 
make. There is neither balanced power, 
nor a middle clafs of people. The country 
is divided between the difproportionately 
rich, and the miferably poor. It is ruled 
by an ariftocracy with a rod of iron. As 


I 


IRISH NATION. I iy 

\ 

/ 

under the defpotifms of the Eaft, there is 
fcarce any intermediate ftation between 
the fultan and the flave, the free govern¬ 
ments of Europe are perhaps diftinguifhed 

* 

from the defpotic ones of the Eaft, by no¬ 
thing more than the oppofite conditions of 
the great mafs of the people. The com- 
preherifive policy of the one produces the 
peace and happinefs of the whole : but in 
Afiatic monarchies we fee, what I think 
Montefquieu fomewhere calls, a fplendid 
focus collected in the centre, with mifery 
and weaknefs in all the extremities. Such 
is the cafe in Ireland. There is no power¬ 
ful nobility, no judicial corporation, no 
mercantile interefts to temper and mode¬ 
rate the power of the ariftocracy over the 
people, becaufe thefe very bodies are 
themfelves the component parts of the 
ariftocracy. 

I 3 


% 

118 LETTERS ON THE 

Neither is the lyftem of Viceroyal 

, i * 

government, as it exifts in Ireland, alto- 

t • 

gether without objections to it. Its ex¬ 
ertions muft neceflarily be crippled by 
the ariftocracy of the country. Whether 
it is fuccefsful or unfuccefsful in its admi- 
niftration, ftill it is at all times attended 
with the greatefl: inconveniences. When 
it is oppofed, the wheels of government 
are clogged, and the executive power 
palfied and inefficient: When it is unim¬ 
peded, it is through the medium of 
influence and corruption, which are 
more deteftable, although lefs fenflbly 
deftruCtive. But this evil, though more 
flow, is yet equally fure in its operation. 

This is the miferable government which 
fubflfts in Ireland. How long it will exift, 
God alone knows; but, if I may venture 
to predict, it will not be long. The 


/ 


IRISH NATION, 


tig 

ariftocracies of the world feem to have 
x lived their day.’ They have perifhed in 
mod: other countries, and cannot long 
furvive in Ireland. This at lead: I will 

I ; 

venture to adert, that not even the ple¬ 
beians of old Rome ever fighed fo much 
for the removal of that patrician power 
by which they were oppreded, as the 
Irifli do for that of the petty tyrants who 
rule over them. 

Upon the crids of this great conted; 
the welfare of Ireland altogether depends. 

The parties are now at idue on it. 

* 

Until the matter is decided, the country 
will remain in its prefent confudon. 
* For while a fyftem of adminiftration 
is attempted, entirely repugnant to the 
genius of the people, and not confor¬ 
mable even to the real principle of 
their government, every thing mull ne- 

14 


I 2,0 


LETTERS ON THE 

celfarily be difordered for a time, until 
this fyftem deftroys the true conftitu- 
tion, or the conftitution gets the better 
of this iyftem.’ 

N J • I 

/ „ • v • , 

I am, &c. &c. 




/ 



IRISH NATION. 


121 

LETTER III. 

OF THE RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES OF 
THE IRISH, &C. &C. 

My dear Sir, 

It is a peculiarity known only 
to Ireland, perhaps of all other countries, 
that its inhabitants are more diftinguifhed 

i 

from each other, on account of their re¬ 
ligious opinions, than they are by any other 
criterion. To this as a leading caufe may be 
traced that extreme Rate of oppreffion in 
which I have defcribed the poor as living. 
It is their misfortune to be born Roman 
Catholics, and to adhere to that religion 

which their anceftors have profeffed ever 

/ 

iince the gofpel was firft preached in the 
ifland. That pure and humble religion 
which was fent from Heaven to unite all 


fZZ 


LETTERS ON THE 


the nations of the earth in piety, harmony, 
and univerfal love, has proved to * this 

country a fource of the mod bloody and 

* • 

implacable animofities. 

If I were about to give a perfect ftranger 
to the political connexions of Great Bri¬ 
tain feme general idea of the condition of 
the people of Ireland in the article of re¬ 
ligion, I fiiould defire him to abftraft 
himfelf for a moment, and endeavour to 
conceive what muft be the relation between 
the conquerors and the natives of fome 
frefh invaded country. If his fancy could 
paint him a lively pi&ure of the forenefs, 
thejealoufy, and the diftruft, which muft 
exift, he would then be able to compre- 
' hend, in fome little degree at leaft, the 
Situation of the Irifh. No animofity can 
be more irreconcileable, no jealoufy more 
watchful, and, I will venture to add, no 


/ 


l 


IRISH NATION. 1^3 

dread fo irremoveable, as that which 

feems to fubfifl between the government 

© 

and the fubjefts of this kingdom. 

If you paufefor a moment to confider the 
outline of the hiftory of the connexion 
between Great Britain and Ireland, you 
will be able to account for it. You will 

4 

fee the caufes of this defpotifm in govern¬ 
ment and intolerance in religion. It is 
fcarcely any thing but a beadroll of broils 
and battles. Henry the Second invaded 
Ireland about fix hundred years ago, but 
very imperfe&ly conquered it, and planted 
fome colonies in it. It was at that time 
plunged in fuch extreme barbarity, that 
we are informed by the hiftorians of the 
age, that only a few Englifh of defperate 
fortunes could be perfuaded to tranfport 

themfelves into the country*. That few 

* * 

% See Brompton, p. 1069, and Neubrig, 403, 
quoted in Hume’s Hiftory, v. i. p. 431, 8vo. edit. 


1 


124 LETTERS ON THE 

♦ 

however had great difficulty to maintain 
their ftation; attempts being perpetually 
made to expel the colony. It was not till 
the reign of James the Firft, that the 

' / , • j 

ifland was completely fubdued. That 
monarch endeavoured to civilize the na¬ 
tives by abolifhing their barbarous ufages 
and cuftoms, and fubftituting in their 
room the benefits of Englifh government, 
laws, and manners. But in this he met 
with great oppofition, the Irifh being 
ftrongly attached to a fort of wild unwrit¬ 
ten fyflem of jurifprudence, called their 
Brehon law, the leading feature of which 
was that of inflicting a pecuniary commu¬ 
tation on all offences, including even 
, murder. 

Unfortunately the exertions of James 
were oppofed not merely by the brutality 
and ignorance of the Irifh, but with an 


' \ ✓ 

IRISH NATION. 1^5 

obftacle of the moft unfurmountable na¬ 
ture, which had but lately arifen. This 
was that bar which the reformation had 
placed between the natives, and the colo- 
nifts who followed the religion of the 
mother country. The confequence was, 

that the oppofition which laws, intereft, 

- ✓ 

and manners, had long before created, was 

/ 

inflamed by religious antipathy, the moft 
deadly of all paflions. To the old diftinc- 
tion between colonift and native was fu- 
peradded that of Proteftant and Catholic. 
Into thefe two diftinft bodies of Proteftant 
colonifts and Catholic natives, the nation 
has ever fmce continued to be divided. 
This added frefh fuel to the flame of their 
formersdiflenfions, and may be confldered 
as the caufe of all the calamities which 
-have fmce afili<?ced this unfortunate coun¬ 
try. Religion, inftcad of tending to heal 



is6 


LETTERS ON THE 


the difccntents which the government 
occafioned, heightened and increafed them. 
Inftead of their co-operating in a tendency 

\ ‘ ! v jr ffljl \ 

to make good citizens, they have created 
irreconcileable enemies. I fhall endeavour 
to give you fome account of the ftate of 
the Catholics and of the Proteftants, in a 
regular order. 

I. The Catholics , I have already obferved, 
are the real natives of Ireland, and the 
original rightful pofieffors of the foil. But 
they have however been gradually expelled 
from that pofTeffion by the fure progrefs 
of violence and confifcation. No fooner 
was war ended or rebellion crufhed than 
the lawyers went to work with chicane, 
and the legiflature with penal ftatutes. 
They firffc {tripped the native of his eftate, 
and then difqualified him by law from 
recovering it again, or even from acquir- 


i 


IRISH NATION. 


12,7 

ing other property. When aggrellion 
provoked the Irifh to felf-defence or to 
revenge, the frantic ftruggles which were 

* t 

dictated by their defpair, were converted 
into pretext, and new reafons for additional 
adts of oppreffion. 

It is not therefore to be wondered that 
the Irifh fhould always have looked upon 
thefe colonifts as intruders and robbers, 
and have embraced every opportunity of 
expelling them from their country. With 
this view have been the aifociates of every 
domeftic and foreign enemy to the go¬ 
vernment of England. They have joined, 
if not openly and avowedly, yet always in 
their hearts and minds, every pretender to 
the crown from Lambert Simnel down to 
Edward Stuart. We have never been at 
war with the French, the Spaniards, or 
the Emperor, but thefe powers have found 


* 




\ — 

128 ' LETTERS ON THE 

their account in ftirring up the native 
Irifh. Numbers- of them have always 
been oppofed to us in the armies of our 
enemies, and, by their defperate valour 
alone, have often flood in the way of our 
victories. Annales vaterum delidla loqtien - 
tur: harebunt maculce. The confequences 
of fuch ftrong difaffeeftion towards the 
Englifh have been fuch as might naturally 
have been expelled. Attainder has been 
followed up by attainder, and confifcation 
by confifcation. In the reign of James 
the whole province of Ulfter came to the 

, V .A 

crown, and equally immenfe trails of land 
were taken from the Catholics in the 
times of Cromwell and William the Third. 
By thefe means, the intereft of three mil- 

\ 'y- 

lions of natives in their own foil has been 

✓ 

at length almoft totally extirpated. Penal 
laws and difqualifying ftatutes, fome of 
1 



IRISH NATION. I Zg 

\ 

which ftill remain, completely foreclofed 
the poffibility of their ever regaining that 
intereft. They were deprived of the right 
of electing reprefentatives, and {till conti¬ 
nue {hut out from feats in Parliament 

/ 

and all the great offices of {late. Every 
office and every franchife, ecclefiaftical, 
civil, and military, was taken from them; 
and the mercilefs unrelenting hand of the 
law, having {tripped them naked, turned 
them out of doors, that miferable populace 
which we now behold them. For my 
own part, fince I have been in Ireland, I 
have invariably afcertained that almoft 
every pitiable object in rags and mifery 
was a Catholic; and that almoft every 
man who enjoyed the advantages of food 
and cloathing obtained them by his Pro- 
teftantifm. They carry thefe palpable 
badges of their religious differences about 

K 


130 


LETTERS ON THE 


them. It is utterly impoffible that the 

contrail can be more linking, between 

/ 

the lazy luxurious European and the 
naked Itarved Afiatic on the plains of 
Hindollan. 

II. I take my leave of the Catholics for 
the prefent, and turn to the Irijh Protejiants . 
Thefe are the colonills who have migrated 
from the mother country, and who have 
been fed by the plunder gained by con- 
queft and confifcation. The Proteftant 

pr » ft v . » 

religion has alfo been long the badge of 
that arillocracy which in my lall letter 

. , _ V * . , 

I have mentioned as tyrannizing over Ire¬ 
land. 

But the Proteftant colonills in this 

* f * * 

country are divided into two claffes ; thofe 
of the Church of England, and thofe of 
the Church of Scotland. The defen¬ 
dants of the Englifh are of the lirft orders 


IRISH NATION. xI 3 T ' 

and thefe are the wealthy inhabitants of 
Dublin,, Waterford, Cork, and the whole 
fouthern and eaftern coafts. They are 
like the rich embroidered border of a tat¬ 
tered and thread-bare mantle. The fecond 

clafs is compofed of emigrants from Scot- 

* * 

land, their heirs and fucceifors. Thefe 
are fpread over all the northern provinces 
of the kingdom, enjoying a tolerable fhare 
of the commerce of the country and fome 
of its landed property. Of each of thefe 
in their order. 

- • 

i. Conquefi: and confifcation conftitute 
the title of the Proteftant who iffued from 
England. Military fervice was in general 
the confideration he paid, and his fword 
might have been properly called his title- 
deed. The followers of Cromwell* and 
the heroes who afterwards gained the 
battle of the Boyne, which confirmed the 
* ' K 2 




LETTERS ON THE 


fettlement of the Englifh, were rewarded 
with the eftates of thofe who .fell by the 
fword or the hands of the executioner. 

The fpoils of the flain were left to thofe 
who fought for fomething more than 
glory. The eftates and effects of thofe who 
fell in battle, and of thofe who were at all 
implicated in the charge of diflaffe&ion, 
which probably always compofed a ftill 
greater number, were the booty of the 
conquering foldiers. They were accord¬ 
ingly diftributed amongft them. Thefe 
hands ftill engrofs all the church patro¬ 
nage, all the honours, and the far greater 
part of the landed property of the country. 

2 . As the pride of Alexander could bear 
no equal with him in power, fo did the 
jealouly of the Anglo-1 rifh for a long time 

influence them in their conduct towards 

/ 

the Scotch. The far greater part of 


IRISH NATION. 


*33 

this numerous body, computed at near 
1,000,000, fettled in Ireland in the reign 
of their countryman James the Firft. But 
thefe adventurers, and fellow-labourers in 

1 

the fame profitable vineyard with the 
Englilh, were not admitted to an equal 
footing with them. The fupreme power 
of the ftate has been always almoft exclu- 
fively in the hands of the Proteftants. 
The Diflenters were for a long time ex¬ 
cluded, not only from all lhare in the 
legiflature, but even from all fubordinate 
offices of magiftracy. The teft and cor¬ 
poration afts, which deprived them of all 
fecondary offices of magiftracy under the 
government, have however been at length 
repealed; at leaft fo far as concerns the 
civil power of the ftate. 

The Diflenters are an opulent and en¬ 
lightened body of men, poflefling large 

K 3 


134 


LETTERS ON THE 


landed eftates, and having exclusively in 
their own hands great part of the com¬ 
merce of the country. The linen trade, 
which has been properly called the 
great ftaple of Irifh wealth, is a child of 
their own rearing. They eftablifhed it 
themfelves ; brought it to perfection by 
their own induftry; and of courfe have 
the emoluments of it exclufively: in their 
own hands. There remains therefore no 
Source of difcontent and uneafinefs which 
they can reafonably complain of, except 

9 

indeed their exclufion from church patro¬ 
nage and ecclefiaftical wealth and honours, 

/ K| "j£\ 

- may be thought of that nature. 

Thefe are the prominent religious dis¬ 
tinctions which prevail in Ireland. 
They cxift alfo in England, but they are 

i v v 

x not fo marked, nor are the confequences 
of them fo oppreffive. They affect but a 


i i 


IRISH NATION. 


*»- 


13s 


I 


fmall part of the population of the coun¬ 
try; whilft in Ireland they tyrannize almoft 
over the whole inhabitants. The ftigma 
of religion, (for it cannot be called any 
thing elfe) is attached to more than three 
millions of Catholics, and to nearly one 
million of Diflenters, though it affects the 
latter in a much lefs important degree. 
Not more than five hundred thoufand 
Proteftants can therefore be faid to enjoy, 
fully and without any reftri<ftion whatever, 
the benefits of government*. 


* Mr. Jackfon, in a paper intended to have been 
Tent to France, but which was feized, and fully- 
proved on his trial, eftimates the population of Ireland 
at 4,500,000; of which 450,000 are Proteftants, 
900,000 Diffenters, and 3,150,000 Catholics.— 
Mr Chalmers eftimated the number of inhabitants 
in 1791 to amount to 4,200,000.—I find however, 
that a very late writer (Di\ Duignan) difapproves 
even of this calculation, and fays that it cannot be 
much more than three millions, two thirds of which he 
reckons to be Roman Catholics and one third Pro- 


13b LETTERS ON THE 

I muft here confefs that I fhould be 
afhamed not to add myfelf to the lift of 
the advocates for that univerfal toleration 
which is every day gaining partifans, and 
which looks to the removal of all religious 
diftindlions in political matters. I am per- 
fuaded, and cannot be induced to relinquifh 
the convicftion, that knowledge is becoming 
every day more generally and more equal¬ 
ly diffufed over Europe; fhall I fay over the 
Globe ? We are daily gaining frefh lights 
from the philofophy of ethics, and even 
of religion, almoft in the fame manner as 
aftronomers by the improvement of their 
glaffes, are continually enlarging their 
catalogues of the vifible fixed ftars. Not 

1 

that thefe lights, both in phyfics and in 
morals, did not before exift, but that they 

teftants.—(Frefent Political State of Ireland, p. 28, 
and Appendix, No. 1), Note to 2dedit . 


I 


IRISH NATION. 137 

♦ 

were invifible to us. In the latter cafe, it 
was nothing but ignorance which blinded 
mankind. The chapter of prejudices 
which impedes, and which always will 
impede, the improvement of the volume 
of Human Knowledge, is indeed a long 
and difficult one ; but it is equally pleafing 

as it is true, to obferve how greatly it has 

/ 

of late been abridged and curtailed. Let 
any man who doubts whether toleration 
(which is the natural effeft of an enlight¬ 
ened age, and may even be called the 
barometer of it) is daily gaining ground, 
look (not at the modern French philofo- 
phy, which ftrikes at the very root of the 
firft principles of morality), but let him 
look back one fingle century, and then 
confider how many millions ot people 
have in the courfe of that time been 
emancipated from its fhackles! When he 


9 


138 LETTERS ON THE 

has looked over the map of Europe, and 
contemplated the condition of the diffe¬ 
rent nations of it at the commencement 
of the eighteenth century, and at the clofe 
of it, comparing the former with the 
latter, notwithstanding all its drawbacks : 
let him then continue his retrograde 
review for another century. He will 
then be advanced almoft into twilight. 
Let this inquirer then mount up one fur¬ 
ther period of a hundred years, and he will 
have nearly reached that ‘ Cimmerian 
darknefs’ which preceded the Reforma¬ 
tion, and overfpread the whole face of 

Europe. This was the boundary of that 

% 

» 

, dark period of hiftory, in which Europe 
was uniformly buried in the grofTeft fuper- 
ftition, and unhefitatingly bowed down 
before the golden calf which was fet up. 
Not even the breaks of light, the literary 
corrufcations which burft forth in Italy 


IRISH NATION. 


139 


during the age of the Medicis, were fuffi- 
cient to difpel that night of fuperftition 

which then prevailed. 

* 

If the philofophic inquirer recoils at 
the reco^eftion of thefe times, and hurries 
back to the comparatively happy period in 
which he lives, he muft then thank his 
ftars that he was born in an age in which 
the principles of true religion are better 
underftood. He will then fee that tole¬ 
ration, the companion of knowledge and 
liberality, is making hafty ftrides amongft 
us. This is alone that folid happinefs 
which is increafing in every age; it is 
that only Eternal Peace of this life which 
Voltaire thought mankind will ever en¬ 
joy undifturbed by war or commotion; 
it is the objedl for which Locke and 

J 1 4 

Hume, and a lift of worthies, long fighed 
in vain, and committed to their poftcrity 
the facred charge of obtaining in ftill 


140 


LE ITERS ON THE 


happier times. When the idol of bigotry 
once falls to the ground (for it has fome 
time tottered), and univerfal toleration 
rifes out of its allies, we fhall then enjoy a 
* Hefted fabbath of repofe,—an age of joy 
and happinefs,—a real Millenium! ’ 

Much as I value my religion, yet truth 
obliges me to confefs that the world has 
never yet enjoyed the full benefits of 
Chriftianity. The peace and harmony 
which it was intended to promote have 
never yet been fufficiently comprehen- 
five. There has always been hitherto 
great ground for complaint, and great 
room for improvement. The profcrip- 
tions of antiquity are nothing when com¬ 
pared with thofe of modern religion. It 
is true that Chriftianity has removed 
thofe wide-fpread fcenes of defolation 
which marked the progrefs of fuch con- 
querors as Attila, Zingis, and Tamerlane ; 


IRISH NATION. 


141 


\ k 

but it has left in the room of them 
difcords between the citizens of the fame 
ftate, and religious factions whofe domef- 
tic conflicts, if not fo bloody, are yet more 
implacable. Mankind have never yet 
fully learnt the important leffon of bear- 

1 

ing with other religious opinions than 
thofe of their own party. 

I truft however that the period is not 
far off, when it will at leaft be well un- 
derftood both in Great Britain, and Ire¬ 
land ; when all eccleafiftical tefts will 
be banifhed beyond the pale of true 
religion, and the Diflenters be received 

into the bofom of the ftate as virtuous 

» 

citizens, and the Roman Catholics as 
loyal fubje<fts. There is no other teft 
except that of religion which either of 
them could declare themfelves aggrieved 
by,. There can be no political ordeal, 
as the teft of loyalty, to which they feem 


LETTERS ON THE 


142 

unwilling to fubmit. I truft, *and am 
convinced, that it is nothing but fcruplea 
of mere confcience to which they attend, 
in objecting to exifting tefts. Every fe- 
curity for their loyalty and attachment 

to the government, which the fafety of 

■ 

the Rate fhall require or think neceffary, 
they have freely offered to give. 

The principal grievance which the 
Roman Catholics both of Great Britain 
and of Ireland complain, is their exclulion 
from feats in the legiflatures of either 
country. By the ftatutes made in the 
thirtieth year of Charles the Second’s 
reign, and in the third of William and 
Mary’s, it is required that alf peers and 
members of parliament fhall take the 
oaths of allegiance and fupremacy before 
they can fit or vote in either houfe. 
The oath of allegiance to his Majefty, 
the Catholic are willing to fubfcribe to. 


V 


IRISH NATION, I43 

But it is to part of the oath of fupremacy 
that they refufe their afient. This oath 
firft requires them to abjure the ‘ damna¬ 
ble doctrine, that princes excommunicated 
by the Pope, may be depofed and mur¬ 
dered by their own fubjefts.’ The Ca¬ 
tholics have no objection to fubfcribe 
to'this; but to the fecond part of the 
oath which requires them to declare 

l 

that ‘ no foreign perfon, prelate, or ftate, 
hath any power, jurifdi&ion, pre-emi¬ 
nence, or authority, ecclejiajlical or fpiritual , 
within this realm’, they object, becaufe 
it interferes with the firft principle of 
their religion, which is the acknowledg¬ 
ment of the Pope as the head of the 
Catholic church. It is thus merely a 
fcruple of confidence which excludes them 
from their feats in the legiflature. And 
even this fcruple might be eafily avoided, 
by the parliament altering two words 


*44 


LETTERS ON THE 


in the oath of fupremacy, and fubftituting 

\ 

civil or temporal in the place of ‘ ecclefiaftical 
or fpiritual! 1 confefs I am of opinion that 
it might be done without deftroying or 
even endangering any fecurity ereded for 
the prefervation of the government. I 
am perfuaded that the legiflatures of both 
kingdoms are called upon to do it >by 
every principle of juftice, of liberality, 

i 

and of thofe other virtues which fupport 
a free conftitution. 

I 

With refped to the Diflenters of 
Ireland, they do not labour under the fame 
disqualifications as that fed: does in Eng¬ 
land. It is unneceflary for me to inform 
you, that the DifTenters of England are 
excluded from offices and employments 

by the tell: and corporation ads. Thefe 

/ • 

ads require as qualifications for holding 
places, that certain oaths (hall be taken. 


i 


IRISH NATION. 


145 

and' alfo that the facrament fhall be re¬ 
ceived in a Proteftant church. It is 
from religious fcruples therefore that Dif- 
fenters are at all oppreffed, as well as the 
Roman Catholics. Any political teft, 
which fhall be required of them, they 
have alfo long declared themfelves willing 
to undergo. The only point upon which 
any difference is entertained, is that of the 
propriety of making the particular religi¬ 
ous opinions of this body of men any ob¬ 
jection to their holding political power 
in Great Britain. I confefs that upon 
this queftion my opinion is now moft 
decidedly made up, and the example of 

— t * 

Ireland has operated moft forcibly on 
my mind in convincing me that to do fo 
is impolitic as well as unjuft. 

I fhall not however ftay to eftablifh 
by any argument a truth which has 

L 


146 LETTERS ON THE 


been recognized and acceded to in this 
country, fo far at lead: as relates to Pro- 
teftant Diffenters. But with regard to 
the policy of the difqualifications of the 
Roman Catholics, a topic fo important 
in its nature and application to Ireland, and 
fo materially connected with the fubjed 
of the prefent letter, it is impoffible for 
me to be altogether filent. 

The evil political tendency of the 

* 

Roman Catholic faith is the principal 

ground upon which their enemies defend 

* 

the law's enaded againft them. But 
certainly the invocation of faints, doc¬ 
trine of tranfubftantiation, and fuch 
tenets, are innocent to fociety. As to 
that fpiritual fupremacy which their own 
church acknowledges to be in the Pope, 
I think it cannot with juftice be mifcon- 
ftrued and perverted into any denial 


IRISH NATION. 


H7 


of his Majefty’s title to be confidered 
as Head of the Church of England, 
Neither is it equitable to infer that they 

are enemies to the eftablifhed government 

* 

becaufe they differ from the eftablifhed 

religion, when that inference is not only 

repelled by their own exprefs declarations, 

but by a readinefs to undergo the ordeal 

of any political teft which it fhall be 
% 

thought neceflary to impofe on them. 

t 

Civil duties are diftincft from and in¬ 
dependent of religious opinions, and it 
feems to me that fo long as they conti¬ 
nue to be feparated, the non-conformifts 
to Proteftantifm have every right which 
jufti ce can afford to be admitted to the 
enjoyment of the conftitution under 
which they are born. Now it muft be 
allowed by all parties, that by thefe laws 
fome millions of fubjedfts are deprived 




148 LETTERS ON THE 

of their otherwife natural birth-rights. 
Some great and commanding neceffity 
can then alone juftify this exclufion. 

' , t 

Thefe men are members of the ftate; 
they contribute their fhare, according 
to their ability, towards the expences 
of the ftate, they fight its battles both 
b y. fea and land; and why are they 

not admitted to enjoy every benefit and 

/ 

franchife which it can afford? It is nothing 
but idle talk to aflert that the defence 
of the conftitution being connected with 
that of the eccleilaftical eftablifhment; 
the endangering of the one would at the 
fame time be the undermining of the 
other. I am ready to allow the truth 

of the proportion in its fulleft extent, 

y / 

becaufe I am a friend to them both. 

■"V \ 

But the propofition does not in the leaft 
apply to the point in difpute, unlef's 


IRISH NATION. 149 

it can be firft fhewn that the Proteftant 
religion would be endangered, for upon 
that muft principally 'depend the*exift- 
ence of the ecclefiaftical eftablifhment 
in both kingdoms. But it feems to me 
that this religion is built upon a rock 
which no length of time will be able to 
overturn. It is not defending, but rather 
attacking the Proteftant religion, to aflert 
that it is maintained by any thing but 
its own evidences, truth, and merits; 
or even to infer that it will be endangered 
by an equitable toleration of other re- 
ligions. As then the ecclefiaftical efta¬ 
blifhment ftands upon the fame founda¬ 
tion with the Proteftant religion, it 
would rather feem to add to the fecurity 
of them both, by removing every ground 

t ' j 

of refentment againft them. Is it not 

/ \ 

an eternal truth, ‘ that every religion which 

L 3 


/ 


I50 LETTERS ON THE 

which is perfecuted becomes itfelf per¬ 
fecting ? As foon as by fome accidental 
turn it arifes from depreffion, it attacks 
the religion which perfecutes it, not as 
a religion, but as a tyranny.’ The fecurity 
then of every religion and its eftablifh- 
ment depends, firfl; upon its truth and 
merits, and next on its toleration of other 
religions, for it then never fails of meet¬ 
ing from them a return of the like 
mildnefs and indulgence. 

• t 

Religious toleration is thus not only 
the beft policy which a ftate can poffibly 
adopt, but it is alfo a principle of the 
law of nature, engraven in the hearts of all 

r 

mankind. If I am called upon for the 

proof of this propofition; it is evident, 

/ 

from the abfurdity of fuppohng for a 

,/ f ' Jr 

moment that any created being has a 

/ N \ 

l 

right to force another, under the fear 


1 


IRISH NATION. 


l 5 l 

of penalties, to think precifely as he 
does. I grant that if the law commands 
any one religion to be obferved to the ex- 
cluflon of others, the obligations of natu¬ 
ral law are then fuperfeded fo far as they 
might influence the external condud of 
any individual; but the free operations 
of his mind within itfelf are beyond the 
controul and jurifdidion of all ftatutes 
and edicts. They may be compared to 
fpace itfelf, ‘ a circle whofe centre is 
every where, but whofe circumference is 
no where.’ 

The pofitive laws of many nations 
have recognized this principle .of na- 

j 

tural juftice. It has even been contend¬ 
ed, and with great force of argument, 
that Toleration is one of the oldeft prin¬ 
ciples even of the Britifh conftitution. 
The leading article of the great charter 

L 4 


/ 


\ 

I55 LETTERS ON THE 

of our liberties (and Irifh liberties are our 
liberties, for nearly the fame laws govern 
in both countries); the firft article, I fay, 
of Magna Charta directs that no man {hall 
be'' , difturbed in the exercife of his religion, 
and that the Church of England fhall be 
free . And though the arrogant preten- 
fions of the See of Rome formerly render¬ 
ed it neceffary to guard againft its ufurpa- 
tions in thefe countries, yet that ftorm 
has long blown over, and that power long 
been {hipwrecked. It is as ridiculous to 
fufpecT; danger from the Court of Rome 
now, as it would be to dread the ambition 
of their renowned forefathers. We have 
lived to fee the rod of St. Peter broken to 
pieces, and the ‘ vicar of Chrift upon 
earth’ hurled from his throne. The 
meridian of fuperftition has been occupied 

by the profelytes of atheifm, and that 

» ^ 

power which once fulminated over Eu- 


\ 


IRISH NATION. 153 

rope and affrighted the monarchs of the 
world, is now reduced to infignificance, 
and almoft to contempt, if pity did not 
prevent it. Why fhould we then conjure 
up phantoms of departed greatnefs to 
alarm and terrify us ? The Casfars of the 
fword, and the Popes of the church, are 
both gone by. At diftant periods from 
the prefent time and from each other, 

they have given us uneafinefs, and we now 

* 

may in fafety defpife them both. 

The laws againft the Roman Catholics 
appear therefore to me to be founded 
upon ridiculous, abfurd, and antiquated 
principles of policy, totally inapplicable to 
the prefent times. Their exiltence with¬ 
out the neceffity under the preffure of 

which thev were enabled, is inconfiftent 
*/ 

with the policy of a liberal and enlight- 

* 

ened nation. It is committing the great- 


*54 


LETTERS ON THE 


eft injuftice, and violating the true fpirit 
both of natural and pofitive law. 
For, to punifh a man for fpeculative 
opinions which have neither dangerous 

i * ,, \ 

effe£ts nor dangerous tendencies, is the 
higheft injuftice and the greateft violation 
of national freedom. It does this by 
creating difqualifications. To difqualify 
a man is to punifh him by affixing the 
ftigma of miftruft on him. Not even a 
life of fervice can wafh away the difgrace 

or remove the jealoufy of thefe laws. 

% , . 

.1 

The army of Great Britain is filled with 
Scotch Diflenters, and the militia of 
Ireland is almoft wholly compofed of 
Catholics. And yet though they are 
trufted with arms in their hands, yet 
they ftill labour under fufpicions of difaf- 

i 

feeftion, and under proferiptions the moft 
ungenerous and tyrannical. 


IRISH NATION. 

There is a Spirit of generoSity which 
when adopted in the policy of a nation 
never fails of meeting with a full return of 

v 

merit and fervices. I cannot, in calling 
my eye over the page of hiftory, but 
recoiled: that the Romans knew the full 
value of this liberal principle. They 
granted the freedom of their city, with a 
full {hare of its honours and privileges, 
to Latium, to Italy, and laftly to the 
provinces. They Sacrificed even their 
vanity, to the increafing their power. 
Virtue and merit was adopted as their 
own, wherever it was met wfith. Not 

i • / i 

even flaves or ftrangers, enemies or barba¬ 
rians, were fhut out. By fhunning that 
narrow policy which had ruined Athens 
and Sparta, her Strength increafed with 
her good fortune, and as flbe gained her 
authority She was fure to confirm it. 

6 V' 


LETTERS ON THE 


156 

With this renowned nation there was a 
free toleration of all religious, and even 
an adoption of the gods of all other nations 
* into Rome. This aflociation ot all the 
divinities of the world, ( cette ejpece 
d'hofpitalite divine ,’ (as Voltaire calls it) 
feems to have been common to almoft 
all antiquity. As they had no peculiar 
dogmas, they had no religious wars. 
They perhaps might think that ambition 

V 

and rapine Hied enough of human blood 

/ / 

without the aid of religion to extermi¬ 
nate mankind. It is remarked, that from 
the building of Rome till the reign of 

1 

Domitian, there was no man ever perfe- 

' * . \ 

cuted for his private opinions. In Greece 
indeed there was one inftance of it, and 

that inftance was Socrates. But it is well 

■ '- r • / , 

known that the Athenians long repented 

\ 

of their conduct, and as proofs of their 


IRISH NATION. 


15 / 


contrition, punifhed his accufersand erect¬ 
ed altars to his memory. 

_ 

But this generous policy, this liberal 

s 

and enlightened conduct, was fuffered 
to die away, and the nations of modern 
hiftory who rofe out of the afhes of anti¬ 
quity fubftituted other principles in their 
room. As Harrington has remarked in 
the preliminary to his Oceana, there is a 
‘ meannefs and poornefs in modern pru¬ 
dence, not only to the damage of civil 
government, but of religion itfelfl’ The 
effects of this narrow policy have been 
to cramp the fpirit of free inquiry for 
many ages, and then to injure in the 
greatefl: degree the caufe of religion. 
For when men whofe minds were fupe- 
rior to ordinary prejudices came to refled: 
on this falfe policy, they have even inclined 
to doubt whether the difcords, intolc- 

\ 

/ * 4 ' 

„ \ 

x 


I 


158 


LETTERS ON THE 


ranees, and perfections, which have ac- 

* . / 

companied the introduction of Chriftia- 
nity, have not more than counterbalanced 
the benefits which the world has received 
from it. They recolleCted that its earth¬ 
ly objeCt was to promote peace and bro¬ 
therly love: but that its real effeCts had 
been, to occafion more war and tumults 
than could be attributed to any other 
fingle caufe. Its difciples had appeared 

i t ' jlJ, J .8 

even zealous to invent unintelligible doc¬ 
trines on which differences in opinion 
might enfue. Firft the' Trinity was a 
pretext for bloodfhed, and then the doc¬ 
trines of the Incarnation created a theolo- 

• i - t 

gical war of 350 years. But Chriftians, 
no longer fhedding each other’s blood 
about thefe fubjeCis, next invented new 
creeds and articles about which they 
might perfecute each other. It might 


IRISH NATION. 


*59 


have been hoped that the Reformation 
would have ftifled the flames of religious 
difputes amongft ourfelves; but it has 
turned out otherwifc. Men have not 
been wanting who have kept alive the 
fpirit of church party, and converted 
4 this madnefs of the many to the gain of 
the few*' Human creeds and articles 
have been invented and made the tefts 
of party, not the ftandards of truth. 
Thofe whofe confciences have been large 

1 

enough to fwear to them, have found no 
inconvenience from their eftablifhment : 

but as intereft and confcience are often 

' 

/• 

* The advocates for our modern Teds fhould cpn- 
fult an excellent paper of Sir Richard Steele’s in the 
Spe&ator (No. 376), where is related the flory of 
the day watchman and his attendant the goofe. 
Under this fymbol, adds the author, you may enter into 
the manner and method of leading creatures with 
their eyes open through thick and thin, for they fee 
not what, nor know not whv. 





' l60 LETTERS ON THE 

( I 

at variance, the temptations to perjury 
are too great for a wife legiflature ever to 
hold out. 

Such are the conclufions which arc 

drawn to the prejudice of religion itfelf. 

/ 

Philofophers of no ordinary {tamp have 
then reverted to the policy of antiquity 

- ■- • * * je .■ 

in feconding the habits of the fuperftitious 

\ 

part of every nation by the reflections of 
the enlightened. Unlefs this is done, 
they have thought that religion could 
produce no advantage to a {late. Theo¬ 
logical rancour only ferves to imbitter 
the fuperftition of a people. If the Pa- 
ganifm of antiquity had any exclufive 
merit which Chriflianity has not yet been 
able to boafl: of, it was that mutual indul¬ 
gence, that religious concord and univer- 
fal fpirit of toleration which is produced. 
Such was the mild fpirit of antiquity, 


Irish nation. 161 

that, as it has been well obferved by an 
eloquent hiftorian, * nations were lefs at- 

K. '• { — ' 

tentive to the differences than to the 
refemblauces of their religious worfhip*/ 

i 

I mull indeed confefs, that I look for¬ 
ward to fee the objections to chriftianity 
removed by the adoption of the fame liberal 
and enlightened policy in thefe iflands. I 
hope, and even truft, that the caufe or 
univerfal toleration is every day gaining 
ground, and I could even wifh to fee 
Chriftians of every denomination united 
as the children of one God, as difciples or 

one faith, and as the coheirs of one and 

' . * / 
i * 

the fame inheritance f. 

At any rate however I am perfuaded 
that before another century is elapfed our 

# Gibbon. 

* 

fUnius Dei parentis homines, confortes fidei, fpei 
cohseredes. M. Fel. 313. ed. Ouzeli, 


M 


l6z LETTERS ON THE 

pofterity will wonder that the world 
could have been fo long divided by a 
religion which ought to have united them ; 
that to the bleffings of a free government 
will be added that of a free toleration ; 
and that our fellow-fubjeCts will no longer 
be outraged by tefts, nor by penal ftatutes. 

Our well poifed and balanced confti- 
tution will by this attain perfection; for 
religious power will then he balanced agahijl 
religious power, as civil power has hitherto 
been agahtft civil. To the mutual depend¬ 
ence and mutual check of three legiflative 
bodies, may be added that of the three 
feCts of Chriftianity. In an imperial par¬ 
liament of Great Britain and Ireland, the 
fame principle which preferves the inter- 
efts of King, Lords, and Commons, will 
preferve that of Roman Catholics, Protef- 
tants, and Diflenters. The authority of „ 


/ 


IRTSH NATION, 1 63 

* 

• <s , * 

England, Scotland, and Ireland, will give 

je. / 

a due preponderance to the refpe6tive 

religions of the majority of each of their 
inhabitants. Three kingdoms will fup- 
port and maintain inviolate their three 

t - • • . 

feparate modes of faith. 

The Prefbyterians and Roman Catho¬ 
lics of England will no longer fufter 
under unjuft and invidious exclufions from 
power, nor the Catholics of Ireland under 
a local ariftocracy and general profcription. 
By obliterating partial diftincSions we fhall 
infenfibly coalefce into one great nation, 
united by language, manners, and civil 
inftitutions. We fhall then be equal to 
the weight of a powerful empire. The 
annals of religious perfecution and 'of 
Chriftian animofities will meet with a 
full and final period. The true ends of 
religion, which are to promote glory to 

M 2 


164 


BETTERS ON THE 


God in the highcft, peace on earth, and 
good will towards men, will be fully 

attained. The true ends of a free confti- 

. ) 

tution, which are to afford univerfal 
protection and happinefs, will be enjoyed; 
and all men, parties, and opinions, will rally 
round a throne to fupport a government 

1 

which will then be more dcfervedly than 
ever, what it has long continued, the 
envy and admiration of the w r orld. 

\ 

* 4 { 

t 

I am, &c. &c. 




1 


% 


1J 


✓ 



IRISH NATION. 


i6 5 


LETTER IV. 

OF SOME OTHER DISADVANTAGES UN¬ 
DER WHICH THE IRISH NATION LA¬ 
BOURS IN AGRICULTURE, &C. &C. 

My dear Sir , 

Alt hough govcrnm ent 

\ 

and religion are fubjecfts which moft en¬ 
gage the attention of mankind, and which 
I have therefore treated of in my two laft 
letters, yet there are other tonics ftill 
left behind which are of great import- 

i 

ance. They are not, indeed, fo much 
the objeifts which hiftory celebrates, be- 

caufe hiftory is little more than a record 

/ 

of the crimes of ambition; a kind ot 

M 3 

/ 


1 


LETTERS ON THE 


i 


166 


knowledge which Lord Bacon well ob¬ 
serves is ‘ too much drenched in blood.’ 
But thefe topics, which we have ftill to 
difeufs, are thofe upon which the hap- 
pinefs and greatnefs of nations moft de¬ 
pend. That happinefs may be varied by 
the degrees of freedom and fecurity which 

governments are inftituted to afford; but 

/ 

the firft ftep towards the exiftence of hap- 

* 

pinefs muft depend upon the people’s pof- 
feffiftg the neceffaries and conveniencies 
of life. 

It has therefore, you know, been con- 
fidered by the writers on the Science of 

, J • . * . v 

politics, that the firft duty which a ftate 

\ 

owes to its members, after protecting 
them from foreign invafion and domeftic 
injuftice; the firft objedt of civil Society, 
after it is organifed, is to provide for the 
neceflities of the people. Unlefs a go- 


IRISH NATION. i6j 

' 4 

vernment takes care to furnifh its fubjefts 
with an happy plenty of the neceflaries 
and conveniencies of life, and protects 

i 

them in the peaceable enjoyment of thefe 
advantages, it defeats the very end and 
object of its inftitution. Montefquieu 
obferves, “ Quelques aumones que Ton 
fait a un horn me mid dans les rues, ne 
rempliflent point les obligations de l’etat, 
qui doit d tons les citoyens une fubjijlence 
ajfuree , la nourriture , une vetement conve - 
noble, et un genre de vie qui ne foit con- 
traire d la fante Every individual 
who cannot command the comforts and 
conveniencies of life from wealth here¬ 
ditary or acquired, has yet neverthelefs an 
equivalent to give in exchange for them. 
This is his perfonal labour and induftry. 
Thefe muft conftitute the only titles of 

* De PEfprit des Loix, liv. 23. ch. 29. 

M 4 


168 


LETTERS ON THE 


the majority of the people in every ftatc 

to the poffeftion of them. 

A government, therefore, to fulfil its 

hrft duty, muff encourage labour, animate 

induftry, and excite abilities. It muff take 

fuch meafures that every man may live by 
, . , ' 
his own honeft exertions. It muft propofe 

honours, rewards, and privileges, for thofe 

/ 

who diftinguifh themfelves. When it does 

thefe things, it has the effect of making 

< 

the ftatc powerful and the fubjedls happy. 
When it negledts them, the ftate is weak 
and the people are mifcrable. 

But though this great charge is entruft- 
ed to the care of a legiflator, yet every thing 

i \. j % 

is not left to him to provide for. Nature 
has done her full fhare. She has given the 
earth to afford fubfiftence to its inhabitants, 
and every country, by the induftry of its 
people, may enjoy the fruits,of it. It is 


IRISH NATION. 



therefore on the exertion of that labour, 
which a government muft bring about, 


that it difeharges its duty. Agriculture is 
the nurfe of a date, and its fureft and belt 
refource. It is the moil folid fund of 
wealth to a people, and, of all arts, it is by 
far the mod ufeful and neceflary *. For 
though in fome countries Nature has ren- 


* See the firft volume of Adam Smith’s Wealth 
of Nations, pajfim .—I take this opportunity of men¬ 
tioning, that, in preparing this fecond edition for the 
prefs, I have carefully read over that laborious but ad¬ 
mired work, with a view to the examination and cor¬ 
rection of the arguments contained in this letter. In 
confequence of this, 1 have now inferred feveral fliort 
extracts from that work, particularly in the com¬ 
mencement of the letter where I judged that elucida¬ 
tion would be gained from them. But as thefe paflages 
were mixed with other papers containing fome of my 
own reflections, which had been made in thecourfeof 
the laft twelvemonth ; i am almoft afraid, that, from 
being under apprehenfions left I Ihould mention his 
name in fupport of my own fentiments, and where I 
ought not to have done, I may have negleCted to 
mention it in fome few places where I ought to have 
done fo. Note to 2d edit. 

3 


t 


I70 LETTERS ON THE 

dered it almoft unneceffary, by that fertility 

1 

of foil and beauty of climate which llie has 
given them, yet it is generally found that 
the fiate muft hold out encouragement to 
it by propet laws and regulations. And 
though even in the moft fertile countries 
the people enjoy the neceffaries of life 
with lefs labour than in more barren coun¬ 
tries, yet they cannot, on that account, 
be called rich or powerful. Neither land 
nor gold is wealth, but as it is made fuch 
by induftry. Unlefs they can purchafe 
the produce of other men’s induftry, and 
thereby fave one’s own labour, of what 
ufe are they ? In a ftate of uncivilifed 
fociety it is evident that every man muft 
fupply his own wants of every kind. He 
muft feek his own food, build his own 
cottage, and procure his own clothing. 
But where induftry is introduced into 


/ 


IRISH NATION. 171 

fociety, and men, from being hunters or 

* r “' \ 

fifhers, become poll (lied beings, they learn 
to exchange the furplus produce of their 
lands, or the price of that produce, which 
is the fame thing, for the labour of other 
people. It is the fame with gold, or the 
profits made by lending gold to others; 
it is exchanged (and in the power of be¬ 
ing exchanged confifts its value) for la¬ 
bour. As we cannot well provide our- 
felves with all the necefTaries, convenien¬ 
ces, and luxuries of life, it is evident that 
every man muft be rich or poor, accord¬ 
ing as he can command them, or in- 
/ ^ 

fluence the people to provide them for 
him. A man might poffefs twenty miles 
of land around him in the wdlds of Ame¬ 
rica, and yet ftarve. The African is poor 
and deftitute even in the midft of his 
golden fands. Even money is but an ar- 


9 


LETTERS ON TIIE 


tificial ftandard for eftimating the value 
of the produce of induftry. It is only 
the reprefentative of labour, whilft in¬ 
duftry is the conftitucnt, the real wealth, 
and without w r hich the coin would be 
ufelefs metal. But even when it re¬ 
ceives its value from induftry, it is intrin- 
ftcally and of itfelf nothing more than a 

‘ ticket or a counter/ which, the Scythian 
; . \ • 

Anacharfis well remarked, only ferves for 

the convenience of calculation. 

But to haften to my application of theie 

principles: I have deferibed the Iriflh na- 

/ 

tion as milerably deftitute of all the com¬ 
forts and conveniences oi life. I have been 
told in reply, that they are an indolent peo¬ 
ple. I have acknowledged the truth of the 
remark, and have accordingly confidercd 
idlenefs as one of the charadteriftics of the 
nation, and have endeavoured to prove 


i 


/ 


I 


IRISH NATION. 173 

that pride is a leading caufe of it. But 
then I aft'ert, that they would not be fo 
if they were well governed, and that this 
vice might be eafily counteracted. In- 
duftry may be routed by encouragement; 
it may be created , by exciting the paffions 
of felf-prefervation or of felf-intereft. Un- 
lefs employment is held out> it is unjuft 
to accufe them of idlcnefs: unlefs the 
means of enriching them are afforded and 
laid open, it is highly abfurd to upbraid 
them with their poverty. 

4 In order to put induftry into motion 
(fays Adam Smith*), three things are 
requifite: materials to work upon, tools 

to work with, and the wages or recom- ' 

/ • 

pence for which the work is done. Mo- 

* > 

ney is neither a material to work upon, 
nor a tool to work with ; and though the 

1 

* Wealth of Nations, Vol. 1 . c, 2, 


4 


/ 


I74 LETTERS ON THE 

% 

% 

wages of workmen are commonly paid to 
him in money, yet his real revenue, like 
that of all other men, confifts, not in the 
money, but in the money’s worth ; not 

t * * , ■ 

in the metal pieces, but in what can be • 
got for them.’ 

I aflcrt that agriculture, which is the 
moft natural means of employing induf- 
try, is, in Ireland too much difcouraged. 
Scarcely any thing but pafture lands are 
to be feen. Grazing of cattle is their 
grand paffion. The farmer feels it his 

interell to devote his lands to it, and to. 

✓ ✓ » 

negle£t tillage. I am alfo credibly in¬ 
formed, that the cultivation of thofe lands 
which are laid out in tillage is in general 
fo very defective, that not above half of 
the crops are gathered which the fertility 

of the foil could afford. The caufe of 

\ 

i ✓ 

this preference given to pafture is altoge- 


I 


IRISH NATION. 17 5 

ther a moral one: the farmer finds it his 
intereft. Bat a legiflator that regarded 
the happinefs of the people, and the prof- 
perity of the nation, would male it the 
intereft of the farmer and of the land¬ 
holder that agriculture fhould be culti- 
vated as a fcience, and their lands and 
attention be dedicated to it. 

Although the greater part of the coun¬ 
tries of modem Europe have advanced 

the improvement of their agriculture by 

« 

means of their manufactures and com¬ 
merce, yet it is univerfally allowed by all, 
except the interefted advocates of the 
mercantile fjftem, that this order is con¬ 
trary to the natural courfe of things, and 
therefore neceffarily both flow and uncer- 

1 

tain. ‘ Compare (fays the fame author 
above quoted'*) the flow progrefs of thofe 

* Wealth of Nations, Vol. II. 130. 


LETTERS ON THE 


176 

countries of which the wealth depends 
very much upon their commerce and ma- 

N % 

nufadlures, with the rapid advance of our 

, i 

North American colonies, of which the 

/ 

wealth is founded altogether in agricul¬ 
ture. Through the greater part of Eu¬ 
rope the number of inhabitants is not 
fuppofed to double in lefs than five hun¬ 
dred years'. In feveral of the North Ame¬ 
rican colonies it is found to double in 
twenty or five-and-twenty years.’ No ar- 
gument can poffibly be more decifive in 

favour of the agricultural fyftem than this 

* 

one drawn from the fubjedt of popula¬ 
tion, which follows plenty and riches as 
infeparably as the fhadow does the fub- 
ftance. 

The incrcafe of pafture lands in Eng- 

i * 

land w T as formerly the fubjedt of univerfal 

complaint, but by prudent regulations 

/ 

• i ■ 


i 


IRISH NATION. IJJ 

England is now one of the bcft cultivated 
countries in the world. Might not the 
fame means be adopted in Ireland, and 
with the fame fuccefs ? It is obvious 
that pafture lands afford employment to 

r '.» \ s . . 

a comparatively fmall number of the in- 

^ i i 

habitants of a country, and food to much 
lefs than agriculture does. And though 
it may be faid that the mode of living 
amongft the Irifli is fimple, and fuch as 

. f i 

that bread is not a neceffary article of con- 
fumption ; yet, granting that this is partly 
true, I affert that the mode of living will 
not do every thing, and that it fhould even 
be the endeavour of laws to alter it Jo as to * 
give employment to the people, and kindle 

r f * f * > 

among them a more general fpirit of in- 
duftry. 

It is univerfally allowed that food will 

\ , . . r # ■ T * J * 

always purchafe labour: it will excite as 

N 

4 


I 


i;8 


LETTERS ON THE 


much induftry as it can maintain people. 
There is alfo no other line in which a 
given fum of money, or a given capital, 
will employ fo much labour as in agri¬ 
culture. Servants, cattle, and even nature 
herfelf, labour in the caufe of agricul¬ 
ture. It is alfo the moft fecure employ¬ 
ment for capital, always at home, ex- 
poled to none of the perils of the feas and 
of warfare, fo that it is furprifmg it 
lhould not have more influenced the po- 
licy of modern Europe than trade has 
done. Independent, however, of its ge¬ 
neral advantages, I think its promotion is 
a remedy fo peculiarly applicable to the 
cafe of Ireland, that I cannot but lament 
the disadvantages under which it here 
labours, and endeavour to point out the 
methods by w T hich its profpenty may be 
probably eftablifhed. 


t 


IRISH NATION. 1 79 

The firft important disadvantage under 
which the peafantry of Ireland labour, 
and the removal of which may be 

confidered as the belt hep that could be 

taken in order to promote the fpirit of 

• » ^ 

agricultural indaftry is, the non-refidence 
of the greater part of landed proprietors 
on their eflates. The fum of money 
which it is calculated, is annually fent 
out of the kingdom to the abfentee-own¬ 
ers of eftates, is enormous and incredible. 
I have heard it eftimated at a very large 
portion indeed of the whole rental of the 

kingdom. This is undoubtedly not only 

* ✓ 

injuring the nation at large, but is a 
grievance much more feverely felt by the 
poor tenants of an eftate. Inftead of 
being gladdened with the prefence of 
their landlord (as is univerfally the cafe 
in England for fome months in the year 

V *v x 

N 3 


l8o • LETTERS ON THE 

* 

at leatt,) and in confequence of which 

-) i , i 

they enjoy their fhare in the c returned 
fruits of their own induttry, circulating 
back through the channels from whence 
it originally flowed;’ they are obliged to 
labour for far-diftant matters, who are 
perfect ftrangers to them. 

The rich man here is not that ‘ diftri- 
buting medium’ by which great wealth 
in a tingle hand, becomes more bene¬ 
ficial to the community, than the fame 
income would be if divided amongtt a 
number of individuals.' One wealthy 

' ... - v n 

proprietor has it in his pow r er to employ 

1 - i* 

more indutlry, to hire more labourers, 
to encourage more manufacturers both 

i 

of the necetlaries and of the luxuries of 
life, and to reward and patronize in a 
greater degree the profeffors of the fine arts, 

i 

than could poflibly be done if his fortune 

*\ 

\ 


* 


IRISH NATION. 


181 

' were to be portioned out amongft a 
dozen different people. If this were not 
the cafe in other countries, the inequality 
of property would be fo much felt, as 

i 

could not be endured. By it alone the 
other difadvantages of enormous wealth 
in the hands of a few individuals, is 
completely counterbalanced. To the 
want then of the refidence of large landed 

i , 

proprietors in their own country, may 
be attributed, in a great meafure, the 
very low ftate at which the fine arts are 
at prefent in Ireland (infomuch fo that 
fcarce a picture or a ftatue are to be found 

\ l 

out of Dublin and its neighbourhood); 
and to their non-refidence on their eftates 
a great fhare of the caufes of the neglect 
of agriculture. But this has been fo 
much, and for fo long a time, a topic of 

* i 

invedlive with the well wifhers qf Ireland, 

N 3 


I 


1 


V I 

) 

183 letters on the 

and with all fo very obvious a truth, that 
I forbear enlarging further on it. 

The leading principle of agricultural 
policy, againft which the abovernentioned 
evil militates, as do alfo thofe others 
which I fhall hereafter enumerate, is ? 
that the farmer Jhonld have a certain prof 
peel of enjoying a great fare of if not the 
entire fruits of his own labour, 

i 

X 

For this reafon it fliould be the objeeft 
of the legiflature to prevent, if poflible^ 
all ftrangers to the eftate from enjoying 
any profits from it. It is w 7 ell known 
that in Ireland there arc very frequently 
three or four intermediate landlords be¬ 
tween the farmer and the owner of the 

* *• w ' * • > 

\ 

eftate. In order that thefe mefne holders 

r ■ . , . ~ 

may enjoy a confiderable advantage from 
their bargains, they are obliged to tie 
down the poor peafant to the mofi: 


/ * 


IRISH NATION. 183 

t \ , 

exorbitant rents, and rack him in the 

/ 

moft unmerciful manner. It has always 
been the policy of the law of England 
to difeourage as much as poffible thefe 
under tenancies or fub-infeudations. Their 
effects are, to enrich ftrangers and inter¬ 
lopers, by the impoverilhment of the 

/ 

eftate, by the owner’s deprivation of his 
juft profits, and by the plunder of the 
terre-tenant. It is to be lamented that 
the Parliament of Ireland have never 
attempted a remedy to this evil. 

Upon the fame principle of fecuring to 
the farmer the fruits of his induftry, 

he fihould alfo be fecured in his poiTeffion 

- /> 

by a long leafe at a fixed rent. I am 

✓ 

willing to allow that long leafes may 
be difpenfed with in thofe countries 

where confidence in the landlord fupplies 

/ • 

the place of them ; but this cannot pof- 

‘ N 4 


184 


LETTERS ON THE 


fibly be the cafe in Ireland for the reafons 

above given. The farmer fhould alfo 

/ « 

have fecured to him the advantage of 

every improvement which he lhall make, 

» , ’ * ■ - 

which a long leafe is certainly bcft*cal- 

culated to afford. He is then better 

j 

fatisfied with paying a high rent, becaufe 
he is fecure in his poffeffion of the land 

v * ' 

for fuch a term of years as gives him time 

i 

to recover his firft Ioffes, and make a 
profit by the further improvement of the 
land. If the farmer works for the benefit 
of another and not for his own, his in- 
duftry will proportionably abate. If the 
advantages of all improvements are not 
fecured to himfelf, his rent muff be low 7 , 

s 

if it is a fair rent * if it is high, he will not 
be able to pay it; and in either cafe is it 
reafonable to expedl that he will be at the 
expence and trouble of making improve-? 

# 

ments ? v 


i 


IRISH NATION. 185 

1 

Inftead of this, the fact almoft univer- 

fally throughout this country is, that the 

* ■ . \ 

farmers have fliort leafes for three or five 
years, without any confidence, and with 
very high rents. If the farmer make any 
improvement, it is made an argument for 

\ ' J 

raifing his rent upon the renewal of the 
leafe, as if the middle-man (or landlord) 
had made the improvement himfelf. But 
the truth is, that improvements are never 
made, becaufe the farms at the expiration 

1 

of the leafes are always put up to auction, 
and given to whoever will bid the moll 
rent for them, 

This avaricious conduct on the part of 
thofe who have the letting out of farms, 
creates what I may reckon as a third 
difadvantage under which agriculture lies 

in Ireland. This is the want of what 

# 

as called in England c a tenant-right,’ or 
moral claim on the landlord for a renewal 


LETTERS ON THE 


186 

of the leafe at a fair rent. No proprietor 
can be juftified in taking more rent than 

| 4 . • 

the furplus amounts to, which the farmer 
has in his hands after paying all his 
expences and deducing his ufual profits. 
Thefe expences are the inftruments of hus¬ 
bandry, the flocking the farm with cattle, 
the feed, the wages of labourers, and the 
maintenance of the farmer’s family. But 

no attention can poffibly be paid to thefe 

/ 

circumftances in lotting farms in Ireland, 
wdien they are always given to thofe who 
will pay the moft rent for them, on the 
expiration of the fhort leafes. The poor 
tenants therefore who are fo ignorant as 

• • AH Jufl 

not to know the circumftances which 
lliould determine the quantum of rent, 
and being actuated by a Spirit of rivalry 
neceflarily exifting amongft them under 
fuch circumftances, offer much more rent 


IRISH NATION. 



than they can afford, and fo much as ‘ eats 
up the whole produce of the land! ’ 

The confequence of this putting farms 

up to auction is, that the farmer by 

• ^ - - 1 

paying fo high a rent is not only kept fo 


poor as never to be able to accumulate 
fuificient capital to make improvements, 
which are expenfive; but even if he had 
capital, the fhortnefs of his term would 

prevent him from making them, becaufe 

/ / 

he could not have time to re-imburfe 




himfclf with profit, before his rent would 
be raifed, or he would be turned out to 
make room lor one who offered more 
rent, on account of the increafe in the 
produce of the farm, which the improve¬ 
ments had occalioned. 

The next cfifadvantage under which it 
appears to me that agriculture lies in this 
country, is the fmall fize of the generality 


6 



1 88 LETTERS ON THE 

/ / ' ’ i 

of farms. I do not however think that 
very large farms are advantageous to cul¬ 
tivation, though perhaps very fmall ones 
are lefs fo, but that there is in this as in 

S I - 

other things, a juft medium. In Ireland 
the farms are almoft univerfally in the 
extreme of diminutivenefs. The tenant 
is therefore reduced to the condition of a 
labourer, and as his rent is high, he is not 
only incapable of accumulating capital, 
but even of paying himfelf that which 
otherwife muft have been expended as the 
wages of labour. A miferable fubfiftence 
is all that he can poffibly afpire, to. 

Upon the fame principle of excluding 
ftrangers to the eftate from deriving any 
of thofe profits which ought to belong to 
the farmer, the degiflature fhould remedy 
what I fhall mention as the laft, though 
it is not the leaft, grievance under which 


» I 
V 

IRISH NATION. 189 

the peafants of Ireland labour. In this 
light I confider Ty thes. I fliall not enter 
into any difcuffion of the right which 
the clergy have to tytlies, becaufe I do 
not think that it can be well queftioned; 
nor fliall I afTert that they are rigoroufly 

« * r ' K 

exacted in Ireland, becaufe I believe the 

* 1 

fad: to be otherwife: I fliall only obferve, 
that if in England they are always re- 
ludantly paid and are confidered as op- 
preffive, in Ireland they are highly impo¬ 
litic as well as tyrannical. They operate 

as a bounty upon pafturage, and occafion 

\ 

the negled of tillage in this country, 

» 

more than any other caufe whatfoever. 
What farmer alfo will be at the expence 
of making improvements, when a prieft, x 
who pays no fhare of that expence, is 
to feize upon a large fhare of the profits ? 
In rich and fertile countries, the tythc 


1 


X „ 

/ ' ’ 

190 LETTERS ON THE 

of the produce of land is often great 
enough to pay the farmer’s rent, or ‘ to , 
replace his capital employed in cultivation, 
together with a juft and moderate profit 

on it.’ Under the prefigure of fuch an 

\ 

incumbrance, particularly under the cir- 
cumftances of the cafe in Ireland, it is 
hardly t;o be wondered at, that this alone, 
independent of the other difcouragements 
to agriculture which I have above enu¬ 
merated, fliould have kept it at that very 

low' ebb in which, notwitliftanding what 

\ 

has been done for it, it ftill continues. 

' The peafant, after difcharging his rent 
to his landlord, has to pay tythes to a 
clergy which he abhors, and then to con¬ 
tribute his dues towards the maintenance 
' \ 

* 

of his own Catholic paftor. 

Betwxen the burdens w T hich are im- 

pofed on him by the whole three, his 

\ s 

1 

* 4 


/ 


IBISH NATION. 


igi 

oppreffion is moft extreme. His flavery 

is both temporal and fpiritual; but the 

latter is neceflarily the moil galling. It 

is indeed true, that his focage or lay 

landlord is obliged to content himfelf 

with the payment of rent ‘ wrung from 

the peafant by hands habituated to the 

gripings of ufury.’ His power of diftrefs 

is certainly exerted to its utmofi: extent. 

/ ✓ 
But between the landlord and the tenant, 

however far they may be removed from 

each other, there is Hill fome natural 

as well as legal privity or rclationfhip. 

A »• 

Between the peafant, however, who is a 

s 

Roman Catholic, and the Proteftant cler- 

k ' 

gyman, there cannotpoffiblyexift the leaft. 
Religious as well as popular prejudices 
will therefore be always fo combined as 
to make the tythe claimant (notwith- 

\ V. 

Handing all that can be faid in favour 


1 $ 2 , 


LETTERS Olf THE 

\ 

I I 

of him) as an odious ftranger who i$ 
allowed by law to plunder the farmer. 
But the grievance does not end here. 
As if to make tythes ftill more odious and 
oppreffive to the tenant, he has after 

t 

paying them to fatisfy the demands of 
his own prieft, who like a lord in the 

i ' 

old feudal tenure of frankalmoigne, bran- 
difhing the two-edged fword of St. Peter 
(with all the weight which the fuperfti- 

• i 

tion of the fourteenth century gave to it 

i ' 

in England, and which it ftill has in Ire¬ 
land), exacts his homage, and his fealty, 
and his free alms , with the moft inexorable 

feverity. Though I fliould therefore be 

\ /. 

forry to fee the property of the church 
under the prefent mild Proteftant efta- 
blifhment which exifts in Ireland;— 
though I fay I Ihould be forry to fee it 
confifcated, and the owners of it thrown. 


IRISH NATION. 


*93 

deftitute on the charity of the world 
like the clergy of another neighbouring 
kingdom; yet under all the circumftances 
of complicated hardfhip under which the 
Irilh. peafantry pay tythes, I would re- 
commend, if not an abolition of them, 
at leaft that fome fubftitute Ihould be 
contrived which lhould rather encourage 
than difcountenance induftry. 

It is for thefe various reafons that the 
Irifh farmers prefer laying out their lands 

> ' i , 

in pafture rather than in tillage. It is 

\ , 

to them a much more profitable fpecula- 
tion. Pafture lands are kept in order 
at a much lefs expence than the other. 
They do not require the purchafmg and 

i 

maintenance of cattle for the plough; 
the buying and keeping in order all the 
various implements of husbandry; the 

O , 


r 


I94 LETTERS ON THE 

expence of fending corn to market, which 

# 

laft, if the farmer lives at any diftance, 
muft be very great; but, what is of ftill 
greater weight with him, they pay no 
tythes. Cultivation is therefore negle&ed, 
becaufe the great expence, fkill, and 
labour, which attend it, are not fuffi- 
ciently rewarded. 

But, granting that even thefe great 
checks to agriculture and induftry were 

1 

retained, ftill a wife legifjature might 

, - f 

probably find means to counteract their 

bad effeCts. If the peafant, notwithftand- 

x ing them, can gain more profit by 

* agriculture than by pafturage, he will 
\ ~ y 

adopt it. The legiflature fhould enfure 

him of it, and the example of other 

r * _ * 

countries will fhew how fuccefsfully the 
attempt has been made. 

This has arifen from confidering com 


1 


IRISH NATION. 


195 

not merely as an article of provifion or 
neceflary food, but as an article of mer¬ 
chandize, or as the object of commerce. 
In order that the farmer fhould grow not 
only as much as is neceflary for fubfiftence, 
but fometimes even more by the certainty 
of having a good market, and getting a 
good price for it; the fyftem of giving 
bounties on exportation has been introduced 
into Great Britain, and even latterly into 
Ireland with fome advantage, but not 
fufliciently to counteract the many obfta- 
cles which lay in the way of its fuccefs. 
As perhaps you are not well acquainted 
with the nature of this fyftem, and as it 
has lately beeil decried, for no other reafon, 
as I think, than becaufe it has not been 
well underftood, I fliall trouble you with 
a very few words on the fubjedl. In 
order to infure a plentiful growth of corn, 

O 2 , 


I96 LETTERS ON THE 

» 

the farmer is made fure of difpofing of 
it to advantage. When the plenty is 

1 , 

fuch that he cannot get a fair price 
• \ - 
at home, it is made up to him by 

the government’s paying him a bounty 

on his fending it abroad. By the af- 

fiftance of it, the merchant is enabled 

' ’ r v v 

to underfell all competitors in the foreign 
market. By the quantity of exports being 
thus increafed, the balance of trade is 
turned in favour of the country, whilii 
all the people are enriched. Inftead of 
the fubjeft paying heavy duties to the 
Hate on exportation, the ftate finds its 
intereft in paying him to do it. Before 
this principle was adopted in England, 

and before fhe cultivated corn for other 

\ 

nations as well as for herfelf, the agricul¬ 
ture of England was very inconfiderable. 
It was in the beginning of the reign of 


1 


IRISH NATION, 


1 97 


Elizabeth, that the exportation of corn 
firfi: commenced by the permiffion of the 
legiflature, and Camden obferves that 
‘ agriculture from that moment received 

1 i 

new life and vigour.’ It is therefore to 

t < 

this policy, combined with that of the 
Navigation A61, that the bed: French 

/ t 

writers on the fubje£t have finally attri¬ 
buted the whole fuperiority in commer¬ 
cial greatnefs which England enjoys over 
all the other nations of Europe*. 

In order to prevent every inconvenience 

V' ' ' . ' i . 1 

which may refult from fending too much 
corn out of a kingdom, nothing is fo 

t 

ealy as to take off thefe bounties upon 
proper occafions, and lay them on the 


* Les Interets de la France mal entendu's dans les 
Branches de V Agriculture, &c. 2 vols. 12mo. at Am- 
fterdam, 1757, fuppofed to be written by Mr. Bou- 
lainvilliers: fee vol. i. p. 93 to 111, and vol. ii. p. 123. 
See alfo L’Ami des Homines, vol. iii. p. 259. 



LETTERS ON THE 


198 

importation of it, at the fame time that 

heavy duties are laid on exporting it. 

* 

Other expedients have alfo been fome- 
times fuccefsfully adopted, for the fame 
purpofe. Such is the eftablifhment of 
granaries or public magazines of corn. 

s 

By this inftitution the farmer is always 
fure J of having a certain price for his corn, 
becaufe the market can never be over- 

• ’ * * *'V 1 

flocked in the commodity. Neither is it 
poflible that there fhould ever be too 
fmall a quantity in it. When from the 
great plenty there is any danger of the 
price getting too low, the government 
purchafes the overplus after private indi¬ 
viduals have bought what they wanted. 
But when, on the other hand, the fear- 
city is fuch that the price muft rife above 
its juft ftandard, the granaries are then 
opened, and every inconvenience is ob~ 

• V 

viated. 


IRISH NATION. I99 

* 

\ 

But though this policy is adopted with 
advantage in Switzerland, in order to 
prevent the corn of the country being 
fold at too low a rate to foreigners, from 
whom it has been fometimes neceffary 
to purchafe it back again at an exorbitant 
price; yet it has been generally found 
that a well regulated fyftem of exportation 

» 1 

is the befl encouragement to agriculture. 
It is found more effectually to prevent 
pernicious monopolies. It is alfo recom¬ 
mended by the advantages it affords to 
navigation, and the number of feamen it 
employs in the management of the veffels 
which are engaged in the carriage of corn 
to foreign countries. 

9 1 - a ■ 

I am however fully aware that 

Dr. Adam Smith, the ingenious and 

/ 

learned author of the ‘ Wcalth of 
Nations,’ (a work of great judgment 

O 4 


I 


ZOO LETTERS ON THE 

« < ii 

and accuracy, but which does not poflefs 

, ^ \ 

fo much originality in its principles as is 
commonly fuppofed,) has made fome ob¬ 
jections to the fjftem of bounties on 

exportation. I cannot however think 

( \ 

them applicable to the peculiar cafe of 

i 

Ireland, whatever may be their merit 
in a general point of view, which has 
alfo been queftioned by the beft judges. 
His objections are that they diminilli the 
home market in order to encourage the 

foreign, and operate as a double tax 

/ 

upon the people; firft the tax which 
they are obliged to contribute in order 

to pay the bounty; and fecondly the tax 

/ 

which arifes from the advanced price of 
the commodity in the home market, and 
which, as the whole body of the people 
are purchafers of corn, muft in this parti¬ 
cular commodity be paid by the whole 
body of the people*. . 

^ B. iv. c. c. j 




IRISH NATION. 501 

\ 

To the firft objection that they would - 

diminifh the home market, I anfwer, 

* 

that in the cafe of Ireland, it muft 
proceed upon an afiumption by no means 

'i 

admitted. This is, that the home market 
is in fuch a flate of profperity, as to be 
fufceptible of injury from any attempt 
made to improve agriculture. I confefs I 

• s • 

do not think it at all refembles the fenfitive 
plant, which, if you f touch it, it fhrinks; 
if you prefs it, it dies.’ The faCi, on the 
contrary, is, that the home market is in 
that moft deplorable Hate which may 
perhaps by fome fuccefsful experiment 
be improved, but which cannot, ever be 

It fhould alfo be recollected that 
Dr. Smith’s opinion is confined to thofe 
cafes in which bounties are given to 

i 

agriculture, to the difcouragement ot ma¬ 
nufactures, and that all he contends for 



20Z 


LETTERS ON THE 


is, that both ftiould be left free, open, and 

\. i 

unconfined. But in the prefent inftance 
it is not meant to force the induftry of 

i 

the country from its natural channel into 
another which is deemed more profitable, 
but to raife, quicken, and extend the 

whole labour of the kingdom. It is 

> . 1 

intended to counteract the difcourage- 
ment under which agricultural induftry 
lies from the operation of moral caufes’. 
It is propofed to enable it to raife its 
head, notwithftanding the oppreffions of 

landlords and exactions of the clergy. 

/ 

We are therefore fo far from differing in 
opinion with Dr. Smith, that in this our 
ideas meet each other, that both agricul¬ 
ture and manufactures fhould be put 
upon a level, and treated impartially. 
It is evident that this can never be the cafe, 
unlefs fomething is done to relieve tillage 

6 


IRISH NATION. 


) 


203 


from thofe burthens and difcouragements 
». • / 
under which it now droops. 

It is alfo faid that a bounty operates as 

a double tax. To this it may be anfwered, 

/ 

that, fo far as the expence of putting 
in pra<5tice that fyftem mufl be levied by 
government upon the people, it is cer¬ 
tainly a tax. But this is the object we are 
contending for, upon the principle that 
the general advantages produced to the 
community, in confequence of it, more 
than counterbalance that inconvenience. 
It is parting with a little, in order that 
the general plenty and profperity of the 

t 

country may be increafed in a tenfold 
degree. It never can operate as a double 
tax by alfo raifxng the price of the 

r 

Commodity in the home market, becaufe, 
upon Dr. Smith’s own principles, if corn 
became dear at home, or even advances 


1 


LETTERS ON THE 

# 


i / 

504, 

in price above that fair and equitable 
ftandard at which it is meant to be kept, 

• i 

the natural confequence muft be, that 

r % 

the exportation trade W’ould undoubtedly 
checked. The farmer w r ould hurry his 
corn to the home market, where he would 
get a better price than he could have by 
exporting it, notwdthftanding the boun¬ 
ty. The natural effeCt of this would be 

to reftore the market to its former 

* / , 

level. The fame fluctuations prevail in 
every trade. If the profits become fud- 
denly greater in one line than thofe which 
are got in another in which capital is 
ufually employed, , every body is tranf- 
ferring his capital from thofe other trades 
into this new channel which promifes 
fo much wealth. This reftores the pro¬ 
fits of that lme to its ordinary level, by 

making the fupply of the market greater 

> ' 

.w , ( • < M 


l 


IRISH NATION. 


505 


\ 

than the demand for the commodity. 
On the other hand, if by any accident 
the profits fhould be lefs than thofe of 
other trades, -every merchant fhifts his 

capital from the unprofitable channel 

» 

to fome more promifing one, which 

\ 

again reftores the level price of the market 
• by making the demand equally great, 
and upon a footing, with the fupply. It 
is evident from this reafoning, that if the 
fjftem of exportation diminiflied too 
greatly the home market, and railed the 
price of the corn in it, the evil would 
afford its own remedy. The exportation 
would naturally ceafe, becaufe the profits 
to be made at home would furpafs thofe 
to be had by fending the commodity to a 
foreign market. 

I will not attempt ferioufly to refute an 
objection brought againft this fjftem of 


206 letters on the , 

exportation from its liability to produce- 

frauds. It may be faid that corn can be 
Ihipped as if for exportation, in order to 
get the bounties, and be afterwards 

t \ 

re~ landed atfome other part of the country. 
But if this deferred an argument to 
lhew- its fallacy, it may be faid that 
nothing could be fo eafy as that cuftom- 
houfe officers fhould take care that 
when a corn vcffel was cleared out, fhe 
fhould be required to contain proper 
documents on board, to afcertain her port 
of lading and port of difcharge, at the 
fame time that it fhould be made highly 
penal to land the goods at any other than 
the appointed port, except forced by bad 
weather. But it is abfurd to argue againft 

i 

laws from the evafions which they 

fometimes meet with, and muft neceffa- 

* 

* v. iii. p. 35, o. 


IRISH NATION. ZQJ 

V \ • 

rily be expofed to. Nobody would fe- 
rioufly think proper to deny the govern* 
ment a revenue, becaufe it gives rife to 
the mifchief of fmuggling. 

Upon the whole, I will venture to 
afTert, that whatever difadvantages the 
iyftem of giving bounties on the exporta¬ 
tion of com is liable to in a general point 
of view, and from a fuperficial confidera- 
tion of the fubjedl; all thefe are obliviated 
by a well regulated lyftem of that nature, 

which is what I am contending for. In 

» > * 

times of plenty, let not the farmer bp 
deprived of his juft profits, and agriculture 
be difcouraged by the price of corn falling 

i i - 

below its proper level. Let the public be 

< \ 

always fupplied at a reafonable price, and 
let the farmer fend his furplus produce 

abroad, underfeiling rival nations by means 

\ 

of the encouragement received at home. 


208 


LETTERS ON THE 


In times of fcarcity, on the contrary, natii-* 
ral mtereft will make him bring his com¬ 
modity to the home market; by its pro¬ 
ducing a better price there than at the 
foreign one. It will not even be neceffary 
to remove the bounty on exportation, 
becaufe the amount of it, even when 
added to the price at the foreign market, 
will not amount to the profits to be made 
by the fale of the commodity at home. In 
times of extraordinary fcarcity, indeed, the 
ufual refource muft be had recourfe to, 

« i 

of giving bounties on the importation 
inftead of on the exportation of corn. 

I am not however fo far an advocate 

, 

for the fyftem of bounties on exportation 
as to be convinced that they are pre¬ 
ferable to thofe on produElion which are 
recommended by Dr. Smith. All I con¬ 
tend for is, that fomething fliould be done 


IRISH NATION. 


509 


for the agriculture of Ireland, and that 
bounties of fome fort feem to be the moft 
likely remedy to counteract the numerous 

V . * 

difadvantages under which it lies. I am 
not one of thofe political economilts who 
would deprefs manufactures and com¬ 
merce, to encourage tillage* Let them both 
be put upon an equal footing. Agriculture 
is indeed the moft folid and durable wealth 
of the two, not being fubjcCt to injury from 
hoftilities, which manufactures and fo¬ 
reign trade are. Without the foreign mar¬ 
ket the manufacturers cannot fell their 

* 

commodities ; but the farmer is not fubjeCt 
to the fame inconveniences. Let therefore 

■9 

this natural fource of wealth be improved, 
and if no better means can be deviled, let 
not the government rejeCt too haftily That 
which has been found by experience, if not 

P 


1 


210 


LETTERS ON THE 

\ „ ' 

always to produce much good, yet at leaft 
never to occafion any mifchlef. 

Thefe are the expedients to which 
Great Britain has had rccourfe, in order 
to bring its agriculture to that pitch of 
improvement at which it now ftands. 

She was formerly frequently obliged to 

/ 

have recourfe to other nations for fupport. 
But the cafe is now far otherwife. Nothing 
but the accidental badnefs of the feafons 
can leffen the happy plenty fhe enjoys*. 
Why have not fimilar pains and attention 

been beftowed by thelrifh legislature on the 

* / 

important fubjcft of agriculture, and the 

* The prefent high price of provifions in England, 
occafioned by the badnefs of feafons and the burthens 
nece(Tardy impofed on the people for carrying on the 
war, and which muff of courfe produce a proportionate 
rife in the price of all the neceflarics of life (with 
corn amongft the red), is no obje&ion to the truth of 

this eulogium on the date of Englifh agriculture._ 

(Note to 2nd edit. Odlober 15, 1800.) 

6 

i 


I 


IRISH NATION. 


2,11 


fyftem of bounties been as fteadily and 
wifely perfifted in ? Why, inftead of la- 
vifhing the revenues of the ftate in fup- 
port of idle placemen, in the maintenance 
of deftruftive factions, and in building 
ridiculous edifices, has file not devoted 
part of them . to counteract the abpfes 

which opprefs the peafantry, and difcou- 

/ 

rage agriculture and induftry ? She might 

\ N t 

with half the expence which the mainte¬ 
nance of her ariftocracy has coft the na¬ 
tion, have been as flourifhing in agricul¬ 
ture as Great Britain herfelf is, and have 

# 

fupplied the neceflities of the parent 
country, whenever misfortunes fliould re- 
quire it. Thoufands of famiflied fubjecls 
might have been employed in the cultiva¬ 
tion of the earth, and the peafants would 
have found their native country the feat of { 
plenty and happinefs, inftead of being the 

P 2 


LETTERS ON THE 


21 Z 

low eft fink of poverty and wretched- 
nefs. 

Every country is capable of feeding its 
own inhabitants; but the foil and climate 
of Ireland are fo excellent, that with good 
cultivation it might contribute towards 
fupporting its neighbours. For, though 
the quantity of unprofitable land is very 
great; though, if you calculate the bogs, 
the rocks and the barren mountains, that 
quantity is perhaps more than double what 
is to be feen in England; yet the fertility 
of the remainder, and the temperature of 
the air, amply compenfate for the defeat. 
The country poffeffes the convenience of 
fafe ports and havens in a greater degree 
perhaps than any other European nation. 

But yet, notwithfianding all thefe advan- 

. , • 

tages, the fad; is, that the greater part of 
the provifions which are eonfumed in the 
country are brought from England. The 


IRISH NATION. 213 

poor, not having the means of purchafmg 
thefe, are in want of common fuftenance, 
without either houfe or clothes to fhelter 
them from the inclemencies of the 
weather. 

1 

The reafon of this mifery may be traced 
to that want of employment in which the 
bulk of the people live. From witneffing 
the miferies produced by indolence, I 
could be eafily led to write an homily 
in praife of induftry. But I fhall never 

i 

forget the fentiments of the beft fcholar 
and molt virtuous man of his age, upon 
that fubjeft. f If (fays Dr. Ifaac Barrow) 
the water runneth, it holdeth clear, fweet, 
and frefh; but ftagnation turneth it into 
a noifome pool: if the air is fanned by 
winds, it is pure and wholefome; but 

being flhut up it groweth thick and putrid. 

* 

If metals be employed, they abide fmooth 


Zl\ 


LETTERS ON THE 


and fplendid, but lay them up and they 
foon contract ruff: if the earth is adorned 
with culture it yieldeth fevenfold, but 
lying neglected it will foon be overgrown 

y y 

with brakes and thiftles: and the better 

^ ' . , 

the foil is, the ranker the weeds it will 

*> • ■> * f 

produce. All nature is upheld in being, 
order, and ftate, by conftant agitation.’ 
Can any poor conceits of mine be necef- 

. - „ » | , i 

fary on the fubjeCt after this fimple, clear, 

. 7 

and yet elegant paffage, which exhibits 
the ‘ Jhnplex mundttm in all its charms ? 
Can any thing be more effectually urged 

\ ' i * 

to convince you that induftry is the ar¬ 
chitect of all that isftately, ornamental, or 

, \ 

ufeful in fociety ? that it has built mag- 
nificent bridges that we may fafely pafs 
over rivers, and reared aflonifliing aque- 
duCts, that rivers may be made to pafs 
over our heads: that it has framed fhips 


IRISH NATTON. 2i£ 

by which the moft diftant countries are 
connected, and invented letters by which 
the moft remote ages are infeparablv 
linked and blended together: in fhort, 
that it is the fource of all wealth, grandeur, 
and profperity; that it has done every 

4 

thing which civilizes mankind and adorns 

the world ; that it has bent the haughty 

* • \ , / 

foul of man to an obedience to laws and 
government, and that it has even fub- 
jedled the creation to his command. 

I have faid that I would not write an ho¬ 
mily, and yet the fubject has almoft led 
me into one. I will therefore confine 
myfelf to mere fa (ft. I will aflert that 

the induftry of the lower clafies of the 

/ 

people, who are, or at leaf!: ought to be, 

i f • . • 

the life blood of every ft ate; ot the far¬ 
mers, manufacturers, and labourers; is 
too fatally checked by difeontents, and 
ltifled by a load of opprefiions; that all 

r 4 


3i6 


LETTERS ON THE 

improvements in agriculture are thwarted 
by the covetoufnefs of landlords, and the 
exactions of the clergy ; and that the legis¬ 
lature does not fufficiently counteract 
thefe checks, but are fatisfied with 
facrificing the good of the nation to their 
own private interefts. 

Such is the deplorable condition in 
which Ireland {lands with refpeCt to agri¬ 
culture. The firft means by which every 
civilized nation exerts the induftry of its 
inhabitants, and provides for their wants, 

is thus negleCted. That duty of providing 

.;- v * \ 

food and clothing, with the other or¬ 
dinary conveniences of life, which I have 
obferved that every government owes to 
its fubjeCls, is left undifcharged. Inftead 
of fulfilling the higher duties of advancing 
the nation to a ftate of true felicity by 
education, virtue, and real piety, it {tops 

i 

ftort in the very threfliold, by leaving 


IRISH NATION. 


2 , 1 7 


them unprovided with the ncceflaries of 
life. 

After corn it is probable that fuel 
may be reckoned the next neceffary 
of life. With refped to coals it is rather 
unfortunate, that though Ireland poffeffes 
feveral coal mines, at Ballycaflle in the 
north, and Duncannon in the county of 
Tyrone, and probably at other places 
which I have not heard of or do not re¬ 
coiled:; yet the has always hitherto been 
fupplied with that article from Great 
Britain. The principal caufe of this has 
probably been a want of fpirit and in- 
duftry in the nation. It is true that fome 
parliamentary encouragement has been 
extended to this particular. But all en¬ 
deavours have hitherto completely failed. 
Perhaps at fome future period, and that 
not very diftant, when the induftry of the 


< 


i8 


LETTERS ON THE 


nation fhall be fet at work by the impulfe 
of capital, the Irifh will enjoy the riches 

which Providence has beftowed on their 

% * 

foil* The coal trade may then, amongft 
other things, prove a valuable fpeculation 
to fome enterprifing individuals, and a na¬ 
tional bleffing to the community at large. 

But with refpedl to agriculture, the 
moft folid and permanent fource of wealth 
to a nation, it fometimes happens that a 
nation deftitute of the means of promoting 
it, {till enjoys all the advantages of it from 
the encouragementof trade, manufadlures, 
and commerce. This has been more par¬ 
ticularly the cafe with Holland. The 
unremitting induftry of its people has fur- 

v 

mounted even the obftacles which nature 
had thrown in their way. In the midft of 
their marfhes and fogs, without either foil 
pr climate to favour them, they became 


/ 


IRISH NATION. 


£19 

a rich and powerful nation. They made 
even the tides flop fhort and the ocean 
give way to their induftry. Without 
cither agriculture or even manufactures 
of their own, they grew rich and powerful 
by becoming the carriers of the produc¬ 
tions of other nations. Let us then fee 
what is the ftate of manufactures and 
commerce in Ireland. 

Excepting their linen trade, which is 
carried on in the North, there is fcarce 
any other very confiderable manufacture 
in the kingdom. And yet it has often 

i Nw-' 

been aflerted by thofe efteemed competent 
judges of the fubjeCt, that the country is 
very favourable to the eftablifhment of 
many others. If they could only find 
means to increafe the flock of public in¬ 
duftry, and leflen the number of the idle 
and indolent, they would find both their 


1 


2,2,0 LETTERS ON THE 

‘ •- >• 

manufactures and agriculture gain incre- 

dible advantages. The connexion be- 
tween the two is fo great, that an improve- , 
ment in the one will be generally found 

i t 

to improve the other. The gains of the 
manufacturer create a market for the far¬ 
mer’s corn. The farmer will lay out his 
lands in tillage, in order that with the 
profits he may purchafe the luxuries of 
life. Thus are tliefe two employments 
mutually fubfervient to each other’s ad¬ 
vantage. The advancement of foreign 
trade alfo introduces fuch foreign articles 
as fpur the induftry of the farmer. Whe¬ 
ther he works for the neceflfaries or the 
luxuries of life, the advantage to the Hate 
is equally great. But foreign commerce, 
as it gains ground, is more extenfively be¬ 
neficial ; lor it furnilhes materials for new 
manufactures, enriches the finances of the 


/ 


IRISH NATION. 


22 1 

Hate, and promotes refinement. Wherever 
commerce ‘ fpreads her wings, there civi¬ 
lization is ever found to flourifh.’ But it is 
perfectly unneceffary for me to be lavifh 
in encomiums on a fubjedt which in theory 
affords no difference of opinion, the ad¬ 
vantages of it being allowed and admitted 

on all hands. 

* 

The fum total of what I have advanced 
may be comprifed in very few w r ords. 
Every government fhould fupport its peo¬ 
ple. The wealth of a ftate is its induftry. 
That induftry muft be exercifed on agri¬ 
culture, manufactures, and commerce. All 
thefe three are connected w ith each other, 
and mutually improve or decline together. 
Agriculture is checked by a want of ftock 
in the farmer, which arifes from not hav- 
ing a proper intereft in the foil, and fecu- 
rity in the exclufive enjoyment of the pro- 


LETTERS ON THE 


os> r> 

fits derived from the improvement of it. 

/ ** 

It does not feem that the Irifh govern¬ 
ment has taken fu flic lent pains to coun¬ 
teract thefe obftacles by giving bounties, 
or by obliging landlords to take part of 
•their rent in corn, as was formerly done 
almoft every where, and is ft ill the cafe 
in fome places. Neither are the aids of 
manufactures and commerce in a fuffici- 
entlyftouriftiing condition to exalt their 
fallen lifter. 

Without the marj^et which trade af¬ 
fords, how is the farmer to pay his land- 

' I 

lord, to pay the taxes of the ftate, to pay 
his tithes to two clergymen, and then 
with what remains to fupport himfelf and 
his family? Without the aftiftance of 
agriculture, how is the manufacturer to do 
the fame? Where little corn is grown, that 

i * < i 

little muft be fold very dear; which obliges 


\ 


IRISH NATION. 2,Z$ 

the Irifh manufacturer to fell his commo¬ 
dity at a price proportionate to what he 
pays for food. Even Irifh linens therefore 
require Englifh bounties to find a market, 
or other nations would underfell them by 

t * » * * „ . 

many degrees. Thus, whilft tillage lan- 

guifhes and is negleCted, trade is fettered, 

» * 4 " 
and the people are in a ffcate of poverty 

and wretchednefs. 

If I were called upon to name any one 
caufe which it was probable occafioned 
this general poverty in the agricultural, 
manufacturing, and commercial fyflems, 
more than any other fmgle principle; I 
fliould undoubtedly mention the high rate 

i 

of Interf for money in Ireland. In a mo¬ 
ral point of view 1 fhall leave it to others 

to examine. With refpeCt however to its 

< 

influence on agriculture and trade, I fhall 
conclude this long letter with very briefly 


224 LETTERS ON THE 

i N s 

pointing out what appear to me to be 

4 

infurmountable objections to it. 

Capital is That which more than any 
thing elfe is wanted in Ireland. It is this 
alone which can put indufiry into motion 
and give it animation. Political econo- 
mills have therefore laid it down as an 
axiom, that the indufiry of no nation can 
ever exceed what its capital can employ. 
It is with capital that the materials to work 
upon and the tools to work with are pur- 
chafed; it is with capital that the work¬ 
men, the manufacturers, or the labourers, 
are paid their wages; it is with capital 
that the merchant fits out his fhip and 
cargo, the manufacturer increafes the 
number of his hands, and the farmer im¬ 
proves his lands.- Upon this therefore, 
as upon a pivot, the activity of merchants, 
manufacturers, and farmers, muft altoge¬ 
ther turn. 


Irish nation. 


«5 


As then there exifts this extraordinary 
want of capital amongft thefe people, 
what can be the reafon why it is not 
procured by loan ? Can any thing be more 
obvious than that the reafon muft be, be- 
caufe the rate of intereft which is to be 

paid for it, eats up too large a fhare of the 

» 

cafual profits to be acquired by the em¬ 
ployment of it? None of thefe defcriptions 

of men will therefore borrow money, 

•/ 

- N *■ 

which they muft pay fo high a price for. 

In the firft place, with refpetft to com¬ 
merce, I fhould beg to know what muft 
be the condition of Irifh merchants in 
their dealings with other nations, when 
they arc obliged to pay a higher rate of in- 
tereft for the money they borrow than 
other merchants obtain their capitals for ? 
The Englifh trader pays five per cent, the 
Dutch perhaps three or four, and other 

Q 


/ 


LETTERS ON THE 


2 °S 

commercial nations in the fame propor¬ 
tion, whilft the Irilh merchant will per¬ 
haps find a difficulty in getting money at 

* v. 

fix, the legal rate of intereft. The necef- 
fary confequence of this is, that the other 
nations mult underfell the Iriffi merchant 
in the foreign market. Nothing then 
but a moft extenfive commerce, can ena¬ 
ble him to make it worth his while to 
continue his dealings: the effeCt of which is 
that the profeffion of a merchant muft be 
confined, as it now is, to a few projectors 
and adventurers. 

But granting for a moment that a few 
individuals are to be found hardy enough 
to engage in trade, it will follow that, 
fuppofmg they trade, as moft young 

j < i N 

beginners generally do, upon borrowed 

money; the payment of this high rate 

\ 

of intereft muft entirely run away with 


IRISH NATION, 337 

their profits. I have therefore no hefita* 
tion whatever in aflerting that the com¬ 
mercial profperity of every European na- 
tion muff depend upon the legiflature’s 
eftablifhing a low rate of intereft. 

The fame effects are obfervable on agri- 

1 

culture and manufactures. The improve¬ 
ment of land requires capital. The Irifh 
farmer is, as I have before fliewn, unable 
to fave money out of the profits of his 
land; he muff therefore borrow it. But 
then the intereft which he muft pay for 

it, by eating up the profits wtiich he 

• ' / 1 

could make by the employment of capital, 

» 

fruftrates the very end for which he re¬ 
quires it. In like manner the poor manu¬ 
facturer whofe gain is fmall on account of 
the dearnefs of his materials, of labour, 

and of all the neceffaries of life, will not 
> 4 

hazard the embarking borrowed capital 

Q % 


228 


1ETTERS ON THE 


I 


in a {peculation, which if it fucceeds, his 
profits muff go to pay the intereft, and if 
he fails, bankruptcy and ruin are the 
inevitable confequences. 

I have thus finifhed this deplorable pic¬ 
ture in all its parts, and have endeavoured 

4 

to point out a want of legiflative wifdom, 
which I cannot but fufpedl to be the 
caufe of it. .To conclude.—Neither has 
the government (thus neglefting to fup- 
ply the wants of the people by calling 
their induftry into adlion) inftituted any 
parochial provifion for the poor through¬ 
out the kingdom, to fupply the omif- 
fion. The poor laws of England firfi 
began upon the diifolution of the monaf- 
teries, and perhaps as many poor were 
then thrown upon the public, as there are 
at prefent in Ireland. The government 
however foon afforded relief to their dif- 


i 


IRISH NATION. 

< 

% 

fcrefs, by quartering them upon the pa- 

\ 

riflies to which they feverally belonged. 
From hence has fprung up a volume of 
laws, rules, and regulations, fomewhat 
indeed confufed, diforderly, and operating 
in many cafes as a great grievance; yet 
undoubtedly difplaying the charity and be¬ 
nevolence of the nation, and that fpirit 

of humanity which makes them fubmit 

■ * * * 

to inconveniences for the fupport of their 
fellow creatures. I am not therefore fure 
that I would recommend the adoption of 
our lyftem of poor laws into Ireland. 
There would be fo many calls for the be- 
nefitof this relief in Ireland, that the nation 
would be unable to bear the expences of 
it. It can only be eftablifhed as the auxi¬ 
liary of a great trade, to provide for the 
few hands which the labour of an induf- 

r 

trious nation leaves without maintenance. 

\ 

Q 3 


i 


23 ° 


LETTERS ON THE 


Unlefs a nation is rich, it can never main* 
tain its poor, for the poor then becomes 
the nation itfelf. The bulk of every ftate 
mull fupport itfelf by its induftry, for the 
advantages of fortune are neceiTarily con¬ 
fined to very few. When the majority 
maintain themfelves, the minority may 
then expert fome relief. But for a fmall 
minority to fupport a large majority of 
the population, is one of thofe paradoxes 

i “ 

in politics, which the benevolence of no 
nation ever attempted to put in practice, 
or the eccentricity of any fophift to illuf- 
trate and recommend. ‘There is not a 
more neceflajy or more certain maxim in 

» V . * A 

the frame and conftitution of fociety, 
than that every individual muft contri¬ 
bute his fhare in order to the well-being 
of the community: and furcly they muft 
be very deficient in found policy, who 
6 


IRISH NATION. 

Suffer one half of a parifh to continue 
idle, diflolute, and unemployed; and at 
length are amazed to find that the indus¬ 
try of the other half is not able to main¬ 
tain the whole.’ Such is the remark of 
the only excellent (and at the fame time 

elegant) commentator on her laws which 

■ ' 

England can boaffc of. If this obfervation 
of the incomparable Blackftone, is appli¬ 
cable to pariflies, how much more is it to 
a whole kingdom ?—and if fo, to the cafe 

& ; 4< ' J , 

of Ireland ? 

i , ' 

* 1 am, &c. &c. 


Q, 4 


> 


I 


333 LETTERS ON THE 

- ' \ 

, ' , -jO. > 

* •, . 

\ 

LETTER V. 

‘ • 4 - - 

* , \ 

> ; idbhhki 

OF THE causes of the late 

* 

REBELLION, &c. 

' I 

> f { j. o .I ... JtT 

My dear Sir 3 

When I firfl: took upon 
myfelf the talk of vifiting Ireland, and of 
perfonally looking into the ftate and con¬ 
dition of that kingdom, I was fully ap- 
prifed of the many difficulties and obfta- 

« i 

cles with which I had to encounter, I 

• 4 •' , * ■ 1 

\ 

was fenfible how delicate the nature of 

* 

the fubjed: was into which I was about 
to inquire, and how much that delicacy 

* / 4i s 

was increafed by the times and exifting 
circumftances. The minds of the people 
would be fore, and bruifed almoft to death 

r * \ • • • v. ; 1 * 



/ 


2 33 


IRISH NATION, 
with political differences, which had coil: 

1 % • ~ f 

them fo much pain and anxiety. I had 

. 1 

even to apprehend that a queftion might 
give uneafinefs, or be the means of excit- 

■ ' , i 

ing alarm and fufpicion. Where every 

man muff look with referve and diftruft 

/ 

on his neighbour; where experience had 
ihewn the poffibility of meeting with an 
enemy in the difguife of a friend or 
neareft inmate; I knew that to inquire 
would be to rankle a deep and deadly 

wound; and to put my own obfervations 

, # \ 

to the teft, by communicating them to 

thofe beffc capable of judging of their 
truth and accuracy, would be engaging in 
a work of dangerous and uncertain hazard, 
and be treading over the mournful embers 
pf half extinguifhed fires*. 


* 


Periculofe plenum opus aleae 
Tra6tas, et incedis per ignes 
Suppoiitos cineri dolofo. 






) 


I 


23 4 


BETTERS ON THE 


Since my arrival in Ireland, I have 
found all thefe apprehenfions realized to 

their full amount. But yet the import- 

/ 

ance of the information which I was de- 

firous of obtaining, urged me on to profe- 

\ 

cute my inquiries with alacrity and perfe- 
verance. It is true my refolutions coft me 
fome pain in the execution, but I conli- 

dered that the fpirit of inquiry ought not 

{ A 

to be damped by confiderations of that 
nature. I had embarked in the caufe, 
and was determined to profecute my 

voyage to the end. As for thofe who 

€ 

might be inclined to judge feverely of my 

conduct, I left them to take into the 

account, the agent, and the objed of the 

adion on which they were about to pals 

fentence. I found, that even in Ireland 

the name of an Enejifhman carries with 

it that weight and refped which has long 

* 


\ 


IRISH NATION. 333 

flattered our pride in foreign countries. In 
Ireland, too, every man is fenfible how 
much the profperity and deareft interefb 
of the two countries are linked and 
blended together. They are confcious, 
that whatever fliock is received by the 
one, muft run with electrical force and 
rapidity through the other. What confi- 
derations had I then to deter me from my 

t 

object? I had only to look into the flate 
of the country, and to hear the tale of 

thofe who have been witnefles and fuffer- 

/ 

ers in the calamities w T hich it had expe¬ 
rienced. 

When I firft landed in Ireland, I fpent 

# y » 

* 

a few days in Dublin, and then vifited 
the country which had been the theatre 
of the late rebellion. In the capital, I 

1 . ' 

obferved the ftreets were crowded with 
the widows and orphans of thofe who 


{ 


236 LETTERS ON THE 

had fallen in battle : In the country I be- 
held the villages every where burnt and 
razed to the ground. Every thing I call: 

* ~ • i ' , 

my eyes on, prefented the melancholy 
features of ruin and defolation. I was 
refolved to make myfelf mailer of the 
real caufes of the unhappy differences 
which had fubfifted. I inquired of the 
proteftant landlord, and he told me that it 
was a Catholic war. I turned to the 
Piffenter (for fuch in every fenfe of the 
word he evinced himfelf to be), and he 
anfwered, that it was an infurreftion of 
the peafantry againft their cruel mailers— 
that it was like the celebrated La Jac¬ 
querie of France; and that the oppreffion 
of the natural ariftocracy of the country 

had occafioned fo much bloodfhed. When 

\ 

I reforted in the laft place to the Catholic 
(for in Ireland the diftin&ions of religion 



i 


IRISH NATION. 


237 


mark men more than any thing elfe, and 

' r t r r ' / 

are the caufe of all other diftinctions) and 

- *> ■. / * 

preffed him to inform me what he confi- 

dered to be the caufes and the objects of 
the late civil commotions, he affined me, 
that it was brought about entirely by the 

r _ ' ^ * * 

partifans of French principles. He added, 
that it was no war of religion ; becaufe 
none of the Catholics of Cork, Water¬ 
ford, Limerick, Clare, Galway, or of any 

' / • , . f 

part of the kingdom, except thofe of the 

few counties in which the rebellion broke 

/ 

out, were at all implicated in it; that the 
Catholics of Wicklow and Wexford were 

r 

neceffarily fo, becaufe all the peafantry 
there were of that religion. 

Amidft thefe various and contradictory 
opinions how was I to difeover the truth ? 
This alone I could afeertain with pre- 

1 * ' 

v. , . »’ r ' r ’ 

cifion, that the whole nation \yas con- 


33S LETTERS ON THE 

vulfed with jarring interefts and irrecon- 

1 

cileable animofities; that thefe were the 
primary caufes of the rebellion ; and that, 
whilft they fubfifted, Ireland muft ftill 
continue the unhappy country which I 
then beheld it. 

t ’ 

The inquiry then fhifted to. What are 
thefe contending interefts ? what the 
caufes of them ? and what is it that has 
kindled them into the flame of civil war ? 
I divided the inquiry into a political and a 
religious one. I hoped that this divifion 

would fatisfy my curiofity, as the prifm 

* 

.by feparating a ray of lights ftiews its 
component parts in their true colours. 
An examination into the practical merits 

* * , I 

of the government led me to a knowledge 
of the general ftate of the country. An 
inquiry into the religious differences of 
Ireland fully informed me of the condi- 


f 


IRISH NATION. 239 

s 

tion of each particular clafs of its inhabi¬ 
tants. You have had the refult of both 
thefe refearches. But they only acquaint 
you with the primary caufes of the rebel¬ 
lion, not with the proximate or immedi¬ 
ate ones. I proceed therefore to develope 
the circumftances in the ftate of parties 
which led more dire&ly to the rebellion. 

Since the acceffion of his prefent Ma- 
jefty to the throne, many attempts have 
been made byfucceffive viceroys to dimi- 
nifh the overgrown power of the arifto- 
cracy of the country. All thefe however 
failed of effect, becaufe they wanted the 

cordial co-operation of the Britifh cabinet. 

' / * 

Let me be bold enough to aflert, that in 
the inevitable confequences of the exifting 
ftate of parties. Great Britain hoped and 
trufted that Ireland would fee the necef- 

'i 

% 

fity of an union. The adminiftrations of 


I 


l __ 

^40 LETTERS 01 S THE 

Lord Townlhend, of the Marquis of 
Rockingham, and of Lord Weftmoreland, 
fucceffively palled away without any 
thing material being done. The phan¬ 
toms, the lhadows of royalty, they ftalked 
acrofs the ftage to pleafe the vanity of 
the Irifh nation with the parade and in-, 
trigue of a Court. The Prefidency, how¬ 
ever, of the latter Viceroy, Lord Weft- 
moreland, is remarkable for a faction 
called the Orange party, and the confpi- 
racy of the United Irifhmen, taking their 
rife under it. In the principles upon 
which thefe two cabals were formed, and 
in the hiflory of their proceedings, may 
be diftinftly traced the immediate caufes 
of the Irifh. rebellion. The Orange party 
was formed to perpetuate the abufes and 
oppreffions of the government, by dis¬ 
countenancing every innovation. The 


i 


IRISH NATION. 


541 

United Irifhmen marfiialled themfelves 

' rl • .t'.V 1 

on the other hand, not merely to reform 

\ ‘ » . 

all abufes (for, had they proceeded no 
farther, they would have merited the 
higheft applaufe), but alfo to carry inno- 
vation to the extent of feparating the 
country from Great Britain, and making 
it a free, integral, and independent re¬ 
public. 

The narrative of the collifion of thefc 

' * ? 

two parties till an explofion took place, 
may be comprifed in a few words. Lord 
Weftmoreland in a fpeech from the 1 
throne recommended the claims of the 
Catholics to be taken into immediate 
confideration, and the expectation of their 
complete emancipation (as it was figura¬ 
tively called) ran very high. The im- 
pulfe of all difinterefted men was greatly 
in favour of the meafure. The belt lhare 

R 


i 


LETTERS ON THE 


Z\% 

of the talents on both Tides of the water 
was exerted in its behalf. Burke * wrote 

and fpoke for the Catholics, and fent his 

✓ 

only fon over to Ireland; and the whole 
eloquence of the Britifh Houfe of Com¬ 
mons was roufed in their behalf. To op- 
pofe this, the ariflocracy of Ireland pro¬ 
ceeded to c array an army of their own/ 
They openly avowed themfelves deter¬ 
mined to Hied the laft drop of their blood 

' 

before any conceffions fhould be made to 
the Catholic body. In this oppofition 

• •* « f p 

* The zeal which this great man (who is now no 
more, but who will live in memory as long as the lan¬ 
guage which he wrote in fhall be fpoken or read, and 
as long as there fhall be any taile remaining in the 
world, or any admiration of the pureft ethics taught in 
the mod enchanting and bewitching ftyle) difplayed 
throughout his whole life and till the hour of his 
diffolution, in behalf of his diftreffed countrymen the 
Catholics of Ireland, mull evince, even to the mod 
feeptical, if not the juftice, at leaft the fincerity, of his 
exertions. 


IRISH NATION. 2 ,43 

% 

1 

may be feen the origin of the Orange 
party. 

During the whole of thefe proceedings 
in favour of the Catholics, it is obvious 
that the confpiracy of the United Irifh- 
men was gradually ripening. The abufes 
of the government were the theme both of 
public and private difcuffion, and the 
hopes of their being reformed were of 
courfe great. The United Irifhmen art¬ 
fully fomented the difcontents of the 
people, as an engine to effectuate their 
own views. They had imbibed their 
political opinions from the French Revo¬ 
lution, and were clofely connected with 
the partifans of it (by an accredited re- 
prefentative at Paris), whofe views of dis¬ 
organization completely corresponded with 
their own. This threatened to prove the 
fource of the utmoft diforder to the ftate. 


\ 


' - I 

544 LETTERS ON THE 

I ' 

The tide of republicanifm in Ireland ebbed 
and flowed according to the fuccefs of 
its friends on the continent. When the 
allied armies retired from the French 
territory in the autumn of the year 1795, 
it was at its higheft pitch. Eternal war was 
declared againft all Kings by the friends 
of Liberty. The United Iriflimen mar- 
fhalled their corps, and difplayed the 
emblems of fedition in the ftreets and 
fquares of Dublin, and in the full face of 

the noon-day. A national Guard was 

/ 

formed upon the plan, and even with the 
uniform, of that of Paris. The nation 
was attempted to be roufed by feditious 
publications and addrefles; and Dungan¬ 
non, where the volunteers of Ireland had 
a few years before aflerted the indepen¬ 
dence of the country, was re-appointed 
the fpot where the voice of Liberty was- 


IRISH NATION. 345 

once more to be heard. During the whole 

of thefe proceedings the arm of govern- 

♦ 

ment feemed palfied, and the nation 
looked on, appalled fpeftators of the fcene. 
The fteadinefs of the phyfician feemed 
overpowered by the very afpeft of the di>f- 
eafe. It appeared as if little more than 
the caft of a die was to determine whether 
Revolution or Treafon was to be the 
watch-word of Ireland. 

At length, however, the government 
took courage; proclamations were iflued 
forbidding armed aflemblies of the people, 

t 

and fome of the confpirators were feized. 
Hamilton Rowan, their oftenfible leader, 

N * 

was brought to trial; others fled to France; 
and the proceedings of the confpiracy, 
though not lefs vigorous, became however 
lcfs open. They had coupled their caufe 
with that of the Catholics; and every 

R 3 


I 


£46 LETTERS ON THE 

exertion which was made for that oppreffed 
body was paving the way to the defigns of 
the confpirators. They therefore endea- 

1 

voured to roufe the Catholics, as the in- 
ftrument by which the conftitution both 
in church and ftate was to be completely 

overturned. But, to the honour of that 

** * 

great body be it recorded, the loyalty of 
the far greater part of them w r as proof 
againft thefe artful machinations. The 
Catholics felt themfelves attached to a 
conftitution of King, Lords, and Commons. 
They therefore renounced all coalition 
with the confpirators, and preferred their 

humble claims to Parliament, to be ad- 

»» 

• < 

mitted within the pale of a conftitution 

r 

which they were ready to defend with 
their lives and fortunes. 

*. * > \ j \ * , 

This was during the corrupt adminif- 

tration of the Earl of Weftmoreland. 

• * ■ • k .,*■.** 


IRISH NATION. 


347 


The petition of the Catholics was prc- 
fented to his Majefty, and by him was 
gracioufly received and referred to the 
parliament of Ireland. The juftice of 
their claims being fupported by able 
friends on both fides of the water, made 
this the period in which thofe conceffions 

V * 

which they have obtained, were made to 

1 \ 

them, and thofe harfh difqualifications 
which formerly attended them were in a 
great degree repealed. 

Such was the ftate of parties when Lord 

Weftmoreland was recalled, and the admi- 

\ 

niftration of Earl Fitz william commenced. 
All the circumftances Velating to that 
event are, however, fo frefh in the re col- 

leilion of every man, that it would be 

... . / 

abirflng your patience if I were to attempt 
to recapitulate them. Suffice it to fay, 
that the fudden recall of that amiable 


548 LETTERS ON THE 

nobleman, at the moment when the ex- 
pedtations of Catholic emancipation were 

at their full height, and made the avowed 

/ 

object of his adminiftration; contributed 

not a little to bring the affairs of Ireland 

to a fpeedy crifis. Nothing could have 

happened more opportune to the United 

Irifhmen. If we are only to confider this 

recall as the precurfor of that defolating 
/ / 
civil war which ravaged Ireland, it is 

undoubtedly much to be lamented. But 

if, on the contrary, we contemplate it as 

* 

one of thofe meafures which was to pre¬ 
pare the kingdom for a full and final fet- 
tlement of its political and religious inte- 
refts (although that obje& was not at the 

1 1 

time fufliciently ripe for avowal), it feems 
to me that the wifdom and neceffity of it 
cannot but be acquiefced in. 

The confpiracy of the United Irifhmen, 


IRISH NATION. 249 

notwithftanding the obflacles it had met 
with, had now however become ripe for 
explohon, and the virtuous Lord Camden’s 
adminiftration was to be the unhappy- 
epoch of it. At the head of this plot was 
an * Executive Directory/ under the com 
troul and fuperintendance of which were 
‘ Provincial and Baronial Committees/ 
fcattered over the greater part of the 
country. They had their ‘ affiliated fo¬ 
oleries’ in different parts of the three 
kingdoms, with which, and with the 
government of France, they kept up a 
regular and frequent correfpondence. The 
train was laid' throughout England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland ; but fortunately the ex- 
plofion only took place in the latter 
country. 

Seditious harangues and publications 
have been called by Lord Verulam the 

1 

- / 

/ , 


( 


2,$0 LETTERS ON THE 

fitter of. rebellion; and the obfervation 
is founded in human nature, and con¬ 
firmed by uniform experience. € The 

w ' 

* poets therefore (fays this great man) 
fabled Fame, or that fwift plague Ru¬ 
mour*, to be the youngefl JiJler of the 
giants who warred againft Godf. For 

rebellious a&ions and feditious reports do 

• ^ 

not differ in nature or kind, but as it 

were only in fex ; the one being mafculine 

% 

and the other feminine/ Whoever exa- 

i. 

mines the rife and progrefs of the fociety 
of the United Irifhmen will not require 
any further confirmation of the truth of 
what I have before aflerted. Whoever 
reads the addrefles and declarations with 

-v f V * • 

* Fama Malum quo non aliud velocius ullum. 

f Illam Terra parens, ira irratata deorum, 
Extrcmam , ut perhibent, Cceo Enceladoque 
Jororcm 

Progenuit;-— 


i ■ 



IRISH NATION. 


251 

which the prefs was daily teeming, cannot 
entertain a doubt that the United Irifhmen 
were the fomenters and the inftigators of 
the rebellion. They poured forth the 
diftrefles of the people, and taught them to 
be difeontented with the exifting govern¬ 
ment of the country. But this leffon had 
been long fully learnt. They therefore 
ftudied how to exaggerate the evils which 
the people fuffered, and to make light of 
thofe advantages which they perhaps did 
enjoy. Whilft they endeavoured to ex- 
afperate their minds to a pitch of phrenzy, 
they profeiTed their own views to be moft 
difintereftedly patriotic. 

This fungous aflociation took upon 
themfelves the piloting of the ftate veffel 
through the ftorms and tempefts of a re¬ 
volution. They made pikes, formed de¬ 
pots of muikets and ammunition, and caft 
6 


LETTERS OjST THE 

\ 

cannon, which they carefully concealed 
till it fihould be wanting. They tampered 
with the foldiers to feduce them from 
their allegiance, and folicited and obtained 
a promife of affi fiance from the French. 

Backed and encouraged by the forward 
Rate of their preparations, the fociety iflued 
declarations, purporting that ‘ Univerfal 
Emancipation, with a Reprefentative Le- 
giflature,’ was their ‘ polar principle.’ 
The King and the Houfe of Peers, toge¬ 
ther with the ecclefiaftical eftablifhmcnt, 

\ 

were therefore left to their fate. In the 
bombafuc jargon of French Republican- 

t 

ifm, they invited a ‘ compact’ of Pref- 

byterian and Catholic ; that ‘ provincial 

» 

conventions’ lliould ailemble, and eledl 
‘ delegates’ to confer with thofe chofen 
by proteftant bodies of a ‘ fimilar nature 
and organization.’ They avowed that 


IRISH NATION”, 


z 5o 


nothing would fatisfy them but f imme¬ 
diate, ample, and fubftantial juftice to the 
Catholics ; ’ but they declared at the fame 
time they confidered that merely as the 

* portal to the temple of National 

\ 

Freedom 

Unfortunately for Ireland, the Catho¬ 
lics of fome few counties liftened to thefe 
artful invitations; but the Prefbyterian 
intereft flood aloof, and refufed its co¬ 
operation. Neither would any of the 
Catholic body have joined the affociation, 
if the eloquent exertions of the Earl of 
Moira had been liftened to in the parlia¬ 
ment of his native country. The critical 


* See the Addrefs of the Society of United lrifh- 
rnen at Dublin, to the Volunteers of Ireland, figned by 
Archibald Hamilton Rowan, as Secretary, and fully 
proved on his trial. Alfo the other papers annexed to 
the report of the Secret Committee of the Houfe of 
Lords in Ireland—Auguft 1798. 


354 


LETTERS ON THE 


and dangerous ftate of public affairs at 
this time was feen into and predicted by 
that virtuous nobleman. With the moft 
patriotic enthufiafm, he hurried over from 
Great Britain to his native country, and 
in his place in the Legiflature of the king¬ 
dom, propofed conciliatory meafures to 
allay the threatening difcontents. But 
the infatuation of the Irifh Parliament 
prevented his advice being attended to. 
Nothing then could prevent the burft- 

4 

ing of the impending {form. 

The unhappy peafantry of Wicklow,, 
Wexford, and the adjoining counties, 
groaning under the weight of their op- 
preffions—milled by the artifices of their 
own priefts—flattered with die aflurance 

i ' I ' *4 v 

of repoifelTing thofe eft ates of which their 
anceftors had formerly been plundered— 

* r • 

and allured that they would enjoy them 


✓ 


IRISH NATION. 255 

again under the protection of a * Catholic 
Republic’—liftened to the delufion, and 
promifed their warm co-operation. The 
names of many great men were made ufe 
of to encourage them by their examples; 
fome of whom in faCl fecretly abetted all 
thefe proceedings. Great affiftance was 
promifed from the French, if it fhould be 
neceffary; and the landing which at that 
time had been recently effeCted by fome 
troops of that nation at Bantry-Bay, 
ferved to countenance the delufion. But 

all this would have been inefficient to 

<. ■ - \ 

bring the Catholics into the field, if it 
had not been induftrioufly circulated by 
the United Irifhmen, that the Orange 
party w r as inlHtuted in order to extermi¬ 
nate them. It was reprefented, that the 
Proteftants had entered into a ‘ folemn 
, league and covenant to deftroy them, and 


* 

% 



LETTERS OJsf THE 



% 


that they had fworn to wade up to their 
knees in Popifli bloodThe day when 
the mafiacre was to commence was 
even mentioned. This artful infmuation 
and rnoft ingenious device completed the 
momentum of difafife&ion which before 
there was little to reftrain: this artifice 
brought the Catholic peafantry into the 

\ • / A 

field at the time fixed on by the confpi- 
racy for a general rifing •}*. 

I am forry to be obliged to confefs, 
that there was but too much appearance 

of reafon to iuftify the Catholics in giving 

* 

ear to this fuggeftion of a mafiacre. 
Orange lodges were fpread over the coun^ 
ties in which the rebellion broke out, 
more numeroufly than through the other 

i 

* See the Report of the Committee of the Houfe 
of Lords. The truth of this fa£t I had many oppor¬ 
tunities of afeertaining. 

t The Rebellion broke out the 23d of May, 1798. 


1 


IRISH NATION. 


*57 

parts of the kingdom. Oaths were ad- 
miniftered to thofe who enrolled them- 

s 1 

felves of that party; the nature and pur¬ 
port ot which the peafantry were unac¬ 
quainted with, but which they were led 

t 

to believe were for the, defign of extermi¬ 
nating them. Neither is there any doubt 
btit that fuch a wifh has been profeffed by 
many of the Orange pdrty. I am fure I 
have heard it declared, and fo muft every 
man who has at all mixed in fociety in the 
country, that Ireland would never be at 

reft till the Roman Catholics were com* 

*. 

pletely exterminated. Such' a fentiment 
has even been avowed in the public deli¬ 
berations of the Legiilature. I was not 

* 

indeed prefent to hear it myfelf, but I 

have not the leaft reafon to doubt of the 

fadl. ' The charge has been publicly made 
/ * 
by others, and has never yet been denied. 

/ 

s 


258 LETTERS ON THE 

t ' 

The well informed author of a refpecl- 
able publication, on the ftate of affairs in 
Ireland in the year 1799*, has this re¬ 
markable paffage: * And though there 

* 

may be men of ferocious minds who would 
exterminate the natives; though I have 

heard an atrocious policy avowed in the 

, - • ' # < 

public councils, by which they were to 

be armed and let loofe upon each other; 
though I have heard the offer of Union 
condemned as a remedy inadequate to the 
evil, and the falvation of the few afferted to • 
depend upon the extermination of the 
majority; that the Catholics muff be ex- 
tinguifhed and put out; that not a fmgle 
Rohilla of them all can be left with im- 

i • 

punity ; though I have heard thefe fangui- 


* Confiderations on the State of Public Affairs in 
the year 1799. Ireland, p. 63. 


IRISH NATION, 


559 


nary doctrines pollute the walls of a Honfe of 
Parliament, yet I am fatisfied that they 
are confined to a few breafis not wickeder 

t 

than they are weak.’ 

What anfwer does the Orange party 
make to this charge, which ftands thus 
openly upon record ? They refufe to plead 
to the indictment; they fiand obftinately 
mute : their guilt muft therefore be taken 

pro confeffo*. The inference is, that the 

\ 

miferable peafantry, in giving credit to 
the aflertion of a mafia ere, aCted upon 
good collateral evidence, which, when 
added to the pofitive proof (for fuch it 
muft have appeared to them) which forged 
Orange oaths, purporting a maflacre, pro- 

* I find that Dr. Duigenan, in his 1 Prefent Political 
State of Ireland/ publilhed fince the firfl: edition of 
thefe letters, actually quotes the above paffage, but 
to my great furprize does not attempt to anfwer 
it .—Note to 2 d edit.' 


2,6 o 


LETTERS ON THE 


duced; muft entirely acquit them of every 
crime. It muft evince their conduct to 
have been nothing but an exertion of the 
mere right of felf-defence; that right 
which no law can take away, becaufc it 
is paramount to all law ; that right which 
no ariftocracy can overthrow, becaufe it 
has for its bafis human nature. It muft 
reduce their criminality to the fault of 
poffeffing too great a fhare of credulity. 
The moft improbable fuggeftions have at 
all times been eafily palmed upon the 
Irifli peafantry. The dreadful maffacre 
which took place in the year 1641 was 
brought about by limilar means. It was - 
then, as in the prefent cafe, induftrioufly 
circulated throughout the kingdom that 
the Proteftants (and particularly the 
Prefbyterians, who at that time had emi¬ 
grated to Ireland in great numbers) were 


IRISH NATION. 


36 l 


about to exterminate the Catholics. 
What will not apprehenfions of this fort 
perform, when backed by the impulfe of 
religious enmity ? Till education therefore 
has removed this aflociation of ignorance, 
credulity, and fuperftition, in the lower 
claffes of the community in Ireland, there 

,i 

can neyer exift any perfect fecurity againft 
infurreftions. 

This is a c round unvarnifhed tale’ of 
the circumftances which led to the Irifh 
rebellion. In that unhappy conteft, 
brothers were armed againft each other’s 
lives, and children againft thofe of their 
parents. Ireland will long feel the effects 
of it —Crudum adhuc vulnus medentium 
manus refonnidat . Peace was however at 
length purchafed (if indeed that dreadful 
feene which flaughter and defolation 
produce deferves the name of peace); it 

s 3 


I 


< 


2§2 LETTERS ON TIIE 

was purchafed with little lefs than the 
lofs of one hundred thoufand lives. Of 
thefe about nine-tenths were of the infur- 
gents ; the lofs of the royalifts being about 
10,000 men. 

After the great victories which were 
gained at Vinegar-Hill and fome other 
places, the triumphs of the Orange party 
were now complete. The hue and cry 

i ' 

of Popifli plot and Catholic rebellion was 
immedialely vociferated. Not even the 
high-church mobs in the time of Sache- 
verel could have exceeded their religious 

zeal. It betrayed them into excefles 
which generous enemies would have been 

afhamed of. It was like Philip of Mace- 
don dancing on the field of battle, and in- 
fulting the dead bodies of his enemies, 
after his victory at Cheroncea. They 
talked of a reftoration of the whole of the 


IRISH NATION. 363 

1 

black code of penal laws which had ever 
been enacted againft Popery. The ftatute 
book was again to be difgraced and brand¬ 
ed with thofe ftains which for fome years 
the legiflature had been gradually purg- 
ing it of. Popifh recufant convi<fts were 
to be again introduced to the acquaintance 
of Irifli law, with all the penalties and 
punifhments attached to them. The 
exercife of the Roman Catholic religious 
worfhip was alfo to be prohibited under fe- 
vere penalties and punifliments. Frefli life 
was to be given to laws againft the Ca¬ 
tholics which had become dead letters, 
and frefli heaps were to be piled on thofe 
which already exifted, f Immenfus alianim 
fuper alias acervatarum kgum cumulus .’ 

But I truft you will feel-convinced, 
that the ftigma caft on the Roman Ca- 

s t 

tholics was unmerited and unjuft; that 

S 4 


I 


/ 

564 LETTERS ON THE 

/ 

there is neither any thing now e.viding in 
the nature of that perfuafion, or in the 
difpofitions of its profedors, which ought 
to check'that fpirit of liberality and hu¬ 
mane toleration which has honoured the 
reign of his prefent Maj edy, and which 
is every day gaining gound in Europe. It 
is pleafmgto compare that ‘ mild fpirit of 
philosophy which has adorned the prefent 
reign, with the hadhnels and feverity 
which call a melancholy gloom over fome 
of the moft brilliant periods of Britifh 
hidory.’ I do not plead the caufe of Su- 
perdition, or of its nurfery and hot-bed, 
the Church of Rome. 1 am in this parti¬ 
cular at lead the advocate of human na¬ 
ture. It is to affid in overturning fuper- 
dition that I have directed my aim; for 
the readied road to this objeed appears to 
be the abolition of all thofe opprobrious 


IRISH NATION. 265' 

diftin&ions which are the very batteries 
and bulwarks of intolerancy. 

The Irifh rebellion did not originate 
in religious differences, however they 
might contribute to inflame it in its pro- 
grefs. The earthly paffions of malice and 
ambition were undoubtedly heightened by 

* the flame of theological difcordbut 

/ s 

they were not created by it. They were 

created by thofe oppreffions under which 

' \ y _ 

I have defcribed the peafantry as exifting. 
Upon a populace with minds fo defirous 
of innovation, not merely for the fake of 
innovation, but of relief from their mife- 
ries, the principles of Jacobin Liberty 
and religious zeal muft have afted with a 
powerful pur chafe. The Catholics became 
therefore the tools , and the Society of United 
Irifhmen were the hufy workmen of the re¬ 
bellion . Priefts and traitors kindled the 


2,66 LETTERS ON THE 


fpirit of bloody and implacable hoftility, 
by blowing the trumpet and lighting the 
firebrand of religious war. Chriftianity 
has in all times.(and almoft in all coun¬ 
tries) fince its eflablifhment, been made 
the fulcrum by which thofe who were its 
pretended friends, but who were in fadl its 
greateft enemies, have difturbed the quiet 

of the world. In this cafe, it is probable 

\ 

that the motives of thefe priefts and of 
thefe traitors wxre different from each 
other. I will venture to affert, that the 

V 

motives of the multitude differed alike 
from both. They all co-operated in one 

common defign of overthrowing the go- 

<' 

vernment; but fuccefs would have foon 
thrown afundcr fuch ill-jointed materi¬ 
als. It is well known that the Catholics 
would have foon fhaken off their con¬ 
nexion with the apoftles of French 
6 


IRISH NATION, 


267 

Freedom*. But the fortune of the king¬ 
dom prevented our witneffing the horrid 
fcenes which muft have followed their 
fuccefs. They both funk together in one 
gulph ; they both fell facrifices to ‘ the 
fire-eyed maid of fmcky war.’ May the 
nation learn to avoid a repetition of thefe 

v ' ' 

horrors ! May they learn the important 

leffon of removing thofe grievances which 

\ 

muft again lead to them ! It is the me¬ 
lancholy talk of the hiftorian to paint the 

■ v . . 

fcene; it is the bufinefs of the legiflator 
to profit by the event. Pofterity demands 
that the hard-earned lefTons of experience 
fliould not be thrown away. Pofterity 
requires that the caufe of knowledge, 
truth, and juftice, fhould every day ad- 

v * v 

* This appeared from the confeffion of feveral 
of the rebels who were made prifoners and afterwards 
hanged. 


LETTERS ON THE 




i 


vance, for upon that advancement muft 
depend the happinefs of mankind, both 
moral and political. 

' 


I am, &c. &c. 


0 



IRISH NATION. 2 , 6 $ 


LETTER VI. 


ON THE CONSTITUTION OF 1783. 


My dear Sir, 

It has often happened 
that the principle upon which either an 
individual of a nation afts may be good, 
when the meafure adopted in confequence 
of it is far from deferving an equal fhare of 
comm endation. I confider this to have been 
precifely the cafe with the Irifh nation in 
the year 1782. It had long laboured 
under the grievance of being bound by 

j _ 

laws, in the making of which it had no 


37a LETTERS ON THE 

t , i - 

fhare. and of being crippled in the paffing 

of thofe which its own internal legiflature 

0 

deemed neceffary. Great Britain had 

f 

always confidered the country as a depen¬ 
dant and fubordinate kingdom, which it 
had conquered, planted, and civilized ; and 
which of courfe could have no farther 

4 / 

claims than to the clemency of the vitftor. 
They had found the ifland in a rude and 
barbarous ftate, not even the Romans, 
that banditti which had pillaged almoft 
all the reft of the world, having ever 
penetrated into it to carry civilization 
along with flavery. Great Britain had 
therefore never thought of communicating, 
as its* right, all the advantages of that free 

government and fovereign legiflative au- 

\, , < 

thority which fne herfelf w r as in the en- 

- \ 

joyment of. 

Molyncux, the friend of Locke, had in 


I 


IRISH NATION. 171 

vain ftood forward in the behalf of his 

i 

unhappy country. The excefs of his zeal 

\ - 

was perhaps the principal occafion of his 
ill-fuccefs. He participated in that ardent 
love of freedom which pervaded his Eng- 
lifli contemporaries, which had reared the 
fabric of their liberties, and brought about 

' O 1 

a declaration of their rights. The ‘ writ¬ 
ings of Locke had perhaps fixed the poli¬ 
tical opinions of his friend, and determin¬ 
ed in his own mind the line of conduct 

* 

which he fhould purfue. In purfuanee 
therefore of his determinations he went 
over to England, and fubmitted to the 
examination and judgment of this rival in 
Fame of the immortal Newton, his logical 
reafonings on the grievances of the filter 
kingdom. Locke approved of his conduct 
and fentiments, and encouraged him in 
his refolution of publifhing them. He 


\ 


2 J 2 LETTERS ON THE 

i 

therefore boldly advocated the caufe of 

» 

X \ ' 

Ireland, denied the right of conqueft 

which Great Britain claimed over it, and 

—' * 

demanded for his country a full fliare of 
✓ ' <> ' 
Britifh freedom*. It is not neceflary that 

I fliould enter into the merits of that 

celebrated production. Whatever faults 

there may be in the argument (and faults 

there certainly are), the intentions of the 

author w 7 ere pure and patriotic. His en- 

thufiafm however was cried down as the 

effeCt of madnefs, and his writings were 

condemned to be burnt by the hands of 

the common hangman. 

1 v ' 

The period was not yet arrived in 

which claims of this fort could be fuc- 

% 

cefsfully made. Another century was to 
revolve over the heads of the Irifli, ano- 

f 

* See his book entitled 4 The Cafe of Ireland/ 
printed in 1698. ' ■ 


t 


IRISH NATION. 


* 7 & 

\ 

ther generation was to pafs away, before 
they could be heard with effect. Some 
faint ftruggles and feeble efforts were 
indeed made by the parliament of Ireland 
fhortly after the acceffion of the houfe of 
Brunfwick to the throne. But they foon 

' i 

i 

died away, and are now only remarkable 

* A - ✓ 

on account of the imprifonment of 

A. 

Sir Jeffrey Gilbert, an Englimman who 

at that time filled with honour the high 

/ 

office of Lord Chief Baron of the Court 
of Exchequer in Ireland. This great man, 
whofe name is jufdy dear to every lawyer 

• 4 \ • 

for the literary fervices which he has 
rendered to the profeffion, was commit¬ 
ted to prifon by the Houfe of Lords in 
Ireland for maintaining * the right of the 

t 

Britifh Houfe of Lords to determine in 

the laft refort appeals from the decifions 

% 

*/ 

* In the cafe of Annefley and Sherlock* 


\ 


274 LETTERS ON THE 

/ 

of the courts of juflice in Ireland. He 
was however foon releafed, and an act 
was paffed in the Britifh legiflature to 
deny tlie appellate jurifdiction of the 

Irifh Lords Houfe of Parliament, and to 

■ * ■ . 

affert that of the Britifh, and alfo further 

< - 

to fecure the dependency of Ireland upon 

* l * , . } ' .V.’ A WU: Vj. 

the crown of Great Britain. 

In the new world, the fpirit of indepen¬ 
dence firfl awoke from her long trance. 
The genius of Liberty, after eflablifhing 
the freedom of her hardy fons in that 
remote quarter of the globe, traverfed the 
Atlantic Ocean, and winged her flight 
towards Europe. She firfl alighted upon 
the fhores of Ireland. The influence of 
that vifit ran through the country with 
electrical rapidity. Ireland was inflantly 
in a flame. As if by the force of magic, 
forty thoufand men fuddenly declared 


IRISH NATION. 2,J$ 

themfelves the champions of the liberties 
of their country. The exigencies of the 

-v . V 

times had armed thefe volunteer patriots, 

/ * * * * \ ' * 

'and there was no refufmg claims which 

\ - ' 1 p * *■* * t , ■" 

were backed by fuch irrefiftible power. 
They had affociated to protect their coun¬ 
try from invafion, and they now turned 
their fwords again# the very government 

i i 

which they had- apparently embodied 
themfelves to proteft. The unfortunate 
adminiftration of Lord North had not 

J • 0 » - 4T <m V \ m '• * 

fufficient force or courage to withftand 
the torrent By the declaration of inde¬ 
pendence, which therefore foon followed, 
Ireland was reludlantly tom from the bo- 
fom of the mother country. 

I need not inform you, that by the ad. 
which was pafled in the twenty-third year of 

* See this unfortunate period depidured by Burke 
in his letter to the Duke of Bedford.—p. 14. 

T 5 


2j6 LETTERS G33 THE 

his prefent Majefty s reign, it was exprefsly 
declared, that the people of Ireland fhould, 
in all cafes whatfoever, be bound only by 
laws enabled by his Majefty and the Par¬ 
liament of that kingdom. Two years 
before, ' all pretenfions to fuperiority 

i % wwn* ( 

founded on the ftatute law had been, 
abandoned. But prior to that period 
Ireland was bound (when named) by a<S$ 
of the Britifh Parliament. As a depen- 
dent fubordinate kingdom, tbeir Parlia¬ 
ment was alfo incompetent to pafs laws 
without fending over to England the 
heads and titles of them, to undergo the 

N ‘ *4 kp 

/ . 

confideration of the EnglifliPrivy Council. 

/. 

It was even neceffary to certify the caufes 

\ \ 

and confiderations of holding a Parlia¬ 
ment, before it could lawfully be convened. 

Appeals alfo lay to England from the de- 
cifions made by their Courts of Law and 


I 


IRISH NATION. 277 

♦ 

/ 

Equity, as I have before mentioned. From 
the Court of Kind’s Bench in Ireland, 

O x 

the appeal was to the King’s Bench in 
England ; and from the Court of Chan¬ 
cery there to the Britilh Houfe of Lords. 

Ireland enjoyed fome of the advantages 
of the happy genius which had formed 
the Englilh laws and conftitution The 

government of the country, though alien 

/ ' 

% 1 * / «. 

to it, was yet a Britiili government of 

which freedom was the predominant 
principle. The laws, though they were of 
Englifh growth and exportation, were yet 

famed for their wifdom and mildnefs. 

/ 

They had been planted by King John, 
or according to others by his father, 
Henry the Second, at the Council of 
Lifmore; and the Irilh nation had pub¬ 
licly fworn to obey them. Their lawyers 
were all educated (as they Hill continue 

T 2 

- 1 o 


/ 


Z j8 LETTERS ON THE 

to be) in our fchools of jurifprudence and 
fountains of municipal law—the Inns of 
Court. A refort to thefe original fources, 

i 

in the form of a Britifh appellate jurisdic¬ 
tion, was therefore wife and commenda¬ 
ble. But, independent of its propriety on 
thefe grounds, it was highly neceflary for 

the prefervation of that fovereign power 

• *• » ' 

and intereft which Great Britain claimed 
over Ireland. Supreme judicial and legis¬ 
lative powers are infeparably connected 

% 

together. Such was the 'ftate of the 
kingdom: but all exilting provifions for 

< t ^ i 

the government of the country were 

fwept away by the a£l of independence. 

# ' • * 

But after what has been faid in the 
preceding letters, I mull leave you to de¬ 
termine whether that independence was 
the meafure which was beft fitted to 
promote the happinefs of the country. 


i 


IRISH NATION. 270 

v * 

I errant that much was to be done, but I 
contend that a falfe remedy was too 

• ^ i y j r n . 

haftily adopted. That remedy was total- 

: " ' V f 1 ' 

ly inadequate to the extent of the evil. 

It induced the neceffity of adopting only 
half meafures for the relief of the nation. 

An ariftocracy was feated on the king- 

* 

dom, whofe minds were averfe and whofe 
interefts were oppofite to thofe of the 
bulk of the people. This government 
was reduced to the difagreeable alternative 
of either difregarding its own exiftence 
and prefervation, or clfe of leaving the op¬ 
pressions of the people'unremedied. If it 

removed the dilabilities under which the 

» * ’ ■ 

great mafs of the people, the Catholic and 
Prefbyterian bodies, lay, and admitted 
them to a full fliare of the benefits of a 
free government, it was feared that with- 
out the affiftance of Great Britain the 


LETTERS ON THE 


zSo 

Proteftant afcendancy would be highly 

* 

endangered. They had even to appre- 
hend that his Majefty’s crown might be 
voted off his head. The Proteftant in- 
tereft would be merged and loft in the 

torrent vvith which the opening fuch 

- • f 

flood-gates'would immediately overwhelm 
them. They had in fa<ft precluded 
themfelves from demanding the aid of the 
Britifh government, if they were really 

i ' • ■ • , 

to be confidered and treated as an inde¬ 
pendent kingdom. If then, on the other 
hand, that juft fear which muft follow the 
giving up any legiflative authority out of 
their own hands prevailed, all the abufes 
of the old ftate of things muft continue. 
They might indeed have adopted a ‘ cou- 

i 

rageous wifdom/ and admitted all ranks 
of people to the full benefit of this boaft- 

/ t 

ed conftitution. But inftcad of doing 


IRISH NATION. 28l 

' \ * s * * 

this, they had recourfe to a ‘ falfe reptile 

prudence, the refult not of caution but of 

fear. They fought for a refuge from 

\ v 

their fears, in their fears themfelves. 7 
They confidered a temporizing meannefs 
as the only fource of fafety. Inftead of 

building the fafety of the government 

' */' 

upon the interefts, the wifhes, and the 
refpedl of the people, they compromifed 
and truckled with the power which they 
dreaded, as the only means of drawling 
out their puny exigence *. 3 

Thefe obfervations will be found appli¬ 
cable to almoft all the meafures which 

/' 

the Irilh legiflature have adopted. The 
conceffions which have been wrefted from 
them in favour of the Catholics, have 
obliged the Proteftants to join their inte- 
reft with that of the Diffenters, in order 

* Burke. 


r 


LETTERS ON THE 


to prefer ve the balance of power. But 
yet they have never dared to allow a re- 
prefentation of the Catholic body by mem¬ 
bers of their own religious faith, being 
confcious that the Proteftant power, even 
in its combined ftate, would weigh but as 

V 

a feather in the fcale againft fuch repre¬ 
sentatives. They have therefore endea¬ 
voured to make their peace with the Ca¬ 
tholics, by repealing the moft invidious of 
the laws againft them ; by building and 
endowing a royal college for the educa¬ 
tion of their clergy, with other baubles of 
the fame nature. Still however, whilft 
the latter are precluded from enjoying 
the effence of a free government, a repre- 
fentation in parliament by members of 
their own uncontrouled choice and appro¬ 
bation, but, on the contrary, are obliged to 
choofe the tools of the ariftocracy and the 

i 


IRISH NATION. 383 

, . » 

declared enemies of their interefts, they 

0 

are little better than in a {late of fervitude. 
Still the afcendancy of one party is main¬ 
tained by the degradation of the other: 
ftill thofe ancient animofities, irrecon- 
cileable antipathies, feuds, and rival inte¬ 
refts, are perpetuated, which fo often have 
hurried the kingdom into anarchy and 
confufion. 

Neither has much more been done to 
improve the induftry and commerce of 
the kingdom. Soon after the adt of in-‘ 
dependence, and during the Lord Lieu¬ 
tenancy of the Duke of Rutland, the 
Britifh Parliament offered certain terms 
upon which the commercial interefts of 
the two kingdoms ftiduld be mutually 
adjufted. Every thing vyas offered which 
was thought at that time at all confiftent 
with the interefts of the mother country 


\ 


284 LETTERS ON THE 

\ * 

V 

But becaufe Great Britain would not 

\ ' ' ^ * s - ■/ 

affign over to this independent kingdom 

all its own commercial advantages, the 

Parliament of Ireland rejefted the pro- 

\ 

pofals altogether. The miftrefs of the 
feas was to grant them every thing, or 
they w T ould accept of nothing. They 
would not fubmit to the commercial 

1 

regulations which we had made or fhould 
hereafter make for the better regulation 

1 V 

of the trade with our colonies. We 
offered to allow them to participate in 
that trade upon the fame terms and under 
the fame regulations as we ourfelves 
enjoyed it. Our navigation laws met 
with no better reception. If it had been 
the laws of Draco which we were offering 
them,, they could not have been more 
indignantly rejected. They refufed all 
reflri&ed right of trading, even fuch as 


t 


1 


I 

IRISH NATION. 285 

fhould only pay a due regard to the charter 
of our Eafl India Company. It was alfo 
confidered by the framers of thefe pro- 
pofitions, that fome compcnfation was 

jufily due for admitting them to any 

/ 

participation of commerce. An annual 

\ 

contribution was therefore required to be 

» 

paid, in order to make fome amends for 
the lofs to the revenue of the country, 
which would be fuftained by a diminution 
of the duties paid to the Englifh Govern¬ 
ment. But they rejected the mention of 

t 1 

this propofal with contempt and indigna- 

\ » 

tion as a public infult. The other pro- 

/• ' . ' t i t 

pofitions fhared the lame fate. They 

\ . \ 

might have united the commercial advan- 

» 

tages of the two kingdoms upon one 
footing, equal in liberty and equal in 

necelTary reftri&ions. But they refilled 

N * 

to do fo. Public interest gave way to 

f 

\ 

, - - \ 


1 


586 


LETTERS ON THE 


national pride, and to that fpirifc of intoxi¬ 
cation which generally accompanies new- 
. gotten power. 

Something however was neceffary to 

■ * 

be done. As fenfe had been fupplied 
by found, and argument by declamation; 
fo fubfiantia^ benefits were to be fupplied 
by oftentatious parade. The parliament 
of Ireland, in order therefore to amufe 

j 

the people, and make them fome amends 
for the want of trade and commerce, 
eredled a magnificent Cuflom-houfe and 

Exchange for their merchants. Thus 

• * . . 

have they continued ftedfaflly to adhere 
to the old maxim of facrificing the real 
interefts of the country to that popular 
vanity which fo much chara&erifes the 
,, nation. 

It would be ufurping the province of 
the hiftorian, and quitting that of an 


IRISH NATION. 587 

\ 

, / 

epiftolary correfpondent, were I to lead 

you through the detail of the proceedings 
of the Irifh parliament, under the different 
Lord Lieutenants which the kingdom 

has had fmce the period of her indepen- 

✓ 

dence. Thefe already form a part of the 
hiftory of the nation. In them, as there 
will be found much to condemn, fo un¬ 
doubtedly there will be difcovered fome 
meafures which muft be approved of. 
I cannot, in juftice to the Irifh legiflaturc, 
take leave of the fubjeft of this letter, 

without enumerating fome of thefe latter- 

« 

The repeal of the teft and corporation 

/ 1 

afts was a wife meafure, and has been 
attended with the happieft confequences. 
The fame may be faid of the removal 
of fome of the difqualifications under 
which the Roman Catholics laboured, 
as in purchafing land, ferving on juries. 


*88 


LETTERS ON THE 


with fome other particulars of lefs con- 

■* . i 

fequence. They have alfo endeavoured 

to amend the com laws, and to encortrage 

/ ' 

the growth of that article, and confe- 
quently the increafe of agriculture, by 
offering bounties. But I am inclined to 
think that the meafure might have beeii 

V 

better managed in point of time and 
degree, which would '• have infured it 

» * t '• * * /" . «, I 

better fucccfs than it actually has been 
attended with. But there is one act of 
this, legillature on which I cannot but 
bellow my warmell commendation. This 

is the ftatute for regiltering memorials of 

. 

all deeds and incumbrances affecting land, ' 
in an office appointed to be kept for that 
purpofe. We have a fimilar law in 
England, fo far as relates to the counties 
of Middlefex and Yorkfhire. I trull, how- 

v 

ever, that the period is not far dillant 


I 


IRISH NATION". 589 

when the legiflature of Great Britain will 

/ • 

- \ 

fee the wifdom and propriety of extend¬ 
ing it to the whole kingdom. It has often 

appeared to me that this notoriety in the 

% 

alienation and incumbering of real pro¬ 
perty, for the fecurity of purchafers, is 
abfolutely required by the old common 
law of the kingdom; and that even thole 
principles of commerce, wealth, and re¬ 
finements, which have overthrown, and 
rendered in a great degree ufelefs, the 

" ■ , ■ . *, \ > 1 

fimplicity of our ancient law, and almoft 

/ 

fubftituted another voluminous code in 

. f *. • V . » V 

its place, ftill more demands this notoriety. 

The leading feature of this mafs of ju- 

> 

rifprudence undoubtedly is, that the 
alienation of land fliould be as free and 

w - • ' I 

unfettered, by entails or other means, as 

poffible, in order to increafe the circula- 

« / 

tion of property and anfwer the various 

U ' ■' 


I 


LETTERS ON THE 


290 

objects of barter. Undoubtedly nothing 
can fo much contribute towards this 
objedl as the rendering of titles to eftates 
as clear as poffible, in order that purcha- 
fers may never be intimidated from laying 
out their money by the fear of dormant 
claims afterwards ftarting up to difturb 
their pofleffion. The only means of pre¬ 
venting this is that which has .been 
adopted by the parliament of Ireland, of 
rendering a regiftry of thefe claims necef- 
fary to be made at their firft commence- 
’ ment. 

But, notwithftanding this and other 

particular prudent regulations, I truft that 

s , * > 

what I have before obferved muft have 
iufficiently convinced you of the ineffi- 
cient nature ot the conftitution of 1783. 
I lhall neverthelefs trouble you with a 
few further obfervations on that particular. 


IRISH NATION. 



2<)l 


In confequence of the people being 
ill-governed, and of their commerce being 
cramped and ftifled, the talents and 
virtues of the bulk of the nation find 
no room for exertion or encouragement 

for cultivation. The road to all the 

> 

wealth and honours of the ftate, whether 

x, 

military, ecclefiaftical, or judicial, is com¬ 
pletely choked up. Every thing is done 
by parliamentary influence and interefl:: 
without it nothing. It w^ould be as eafy 
for the fmallefl: Angle drop of water to 
force its way through the ftrongeft dike 
in Holland, as for individual merit, 
without any collateral afliftance, to force 
itfelf into the funfhine of glory through 
the barriers and obftacles of influence 

' V 

and corruption which are oppofed to 
it. 

1 • 

If we turn from its domcftic effects to 

U ^ 


2 ,$ 2 , LETTERS ON THE 

examine its confequences on the connec¬ 
tion with Great Britain, we fhall find it 
as has been already faid, that it has left 

the fingle link of unity in the executive 

' . jjSjm. 

power. We cannot then but recoiled: 

i 

that the regency bufinefs has fhewn 
how {lender this is, and how eafily endan- 

' . v 

gered. But there are caufes which render 

• • 

this tie. {till more weak and precarious, 

% t / 

This is the extraordinary influx of French 

i 

political opinions. In 1798 thefe would 
certainly have broken it completely afiin- 

' ' • \ • v 

der, if military aid had not ftepped in 
to fave it. The rebellion has proved that 

the mafs of the people are averfe to the 

\ 

new government, and the long continued 
endeavours of the common enemy of the 
eftablifliments of Europe, to lop off this 

• f 

member of the Britifh empire, make 

t f ■ 

fome frefh exertions neceflary to fecurc 
it to us. 


1 


IRISH NATION. 


293 


But to conclude this review of the 

/ , 

merits of the government, the ftate of 
the people is a fufficient mirror of thofe 
merits; but we have feen its defefts by a 

more minute and analytical examination. 

\ 

By the anatomy of the component parts, 
we have feen how unjointed are the mem¬ 
bers of this body politic. But though 
the Parliament has not been able or 
willing to beftow on the people the 
bleffings of a free conftitution, yet they 
have erected a Parliament-houfe, which 
for fplendour has perhaps no equal in the 
world. They feem to have been fenfible 
that their exiftence could not be long, 
and therefore took an early opportunity 

•V. ' ■> ■) 

of committing to carpenters and mafons 

1 

the talk of writing their hiftory. 

1 

Such is the hafty furvey which I have 
made of this much talked of conftitution 

U 3 


/ 


294 


LETTERS ON THE 


of 1782. It appeared like a veflel with 
gilded beams and painted oars, and pur¬ 
ple fails, with her flags, pendants, and 
ftreamers floating in the air, but only fit 
for fmooth waters and favourable winds. 
Whilft thefe continued—whilft the pub¬ 
lic mind and public ftrength were united 
—the veflel failed well and made a fplen- 
did appearance. But no fooner did the 
winds arife, the waves foam, and the 
tempeft howl, than it was loft and wrecked 
almoft in its very launch. 

I have, you fee, taken fome pains to 
defcribe to you the birth and fome of the 
acfts of this independent legiflature. In 
difcharging this talk, I have briefly laid 

open the effects which have attended it. 

/ " 

Two confequences, however, may yet be 
diftin&ly traced from this glorious afler- 
tion of Irifti liberty. It confirmed the 


/ 


IRISH NATIQN. 2 ,95 

4 % 1 

authority of the ariftocracy over the peo¬ 
ple, delivering them up as Haves to a 
planter, to nfe or to abufe them . Intereft or 
inclination were left without an appellate 
jurifdi<flion, as the foie principles which 
fhould regulate its conduct. That pa¬ 
rental controul of the Britifh government 
which before exifted, was in a great 

r / 

meafure done away. It could no longer 
moderate inteftine difputes, afluage the 
violence of faction, and from the com¬ 
manding height on which it flood, look 
down on the bitternefs of party fpirit, 
and becaufe fuperior to and uninfluenced 
by it, heal the wounds which it made. 
But the rage for innovation fwept away 
this power of controul. 

The firft effe<S therefore of this new 
conftitution was to fix firmly the oldjiate 
of things, with all the abufes and oppref- 

U 4 


2g6 


LETTERS ON THE 


fions with which that ftate was accom¬ 
panied. Its other effect was to occafion 
the moft enormous increaft of bribery 
and corruption, in order to enable the 

executive government to maintain its juft 

/ 

ftation. His Majefty’s councils can have 
no farther weight than what they receive 
from a fyftem of corruption co-extenfive 
with the independence with which the 
legiflative bodies are inverted. Hence it 
w T as that their Viceroys have been obliged 
to ftain the honour of the purple, by 
fubmitting to numerous indignities. Hence 
it w\as that they have been often obliged 

i r < v * 

to create new places to provide for the 

/ • .. , * 

friends to Government, and to lay on taxes, 
with the produce of which their clamorous 
cravings might be fatisfied. Voters in 
Parliament muft be paid ; or, if they could 
not be bought fufficiently cheap, new 






I 


IRISH NATION. 2,gj 

\ 

y / , * / 

feats muft be pur chafed for thofe who 
were w'anted to make up the complement 

of minifterial force. The Lord Lieu- 

* /' 

tenant, who fhines with the borrowed light 

of the Caffars under the Eaftern defpotifm 

t ) 1 • 

which prevailed in the decline of the 
Roman empire, muft of neceffity fupport 
the dignity and power of the purple with 

which he is inverted. But whilft he is 

^ * 

cut off from all the fupport neceffary to 
government; whilft an independent arif- 
tocracy defies his power, or obliges him to 
truck and compromife with it for procu- 

V • s v 

ring its afliftance : he ftands like an infu- 
lated rock, pulhed off from its native 
ftiore, and left to brave and buffet with 

the angry winds and billows which 

• # 

furround it. Hence frefli expedients 

, have been reforted to. The flight con- 

• / - 

nedion of the two kingdoms was neceffa- 

i " r 1 

I ' ’ , / V 

I J 


I 


LETTERS ON THE 


29 8 

1 

ry to be preferved, if it could not be 
ilrengthened. Hence it was that Lord 
Weftmoreland, in order to raife money, 

put up peerages to public auction. Other 

/ / . . 

fhifts and artifices have been devifed 

r \ 

/ ' ■ t 

in order to.fupport this fyftem of corrup¬ 
tion, till at length it has exceeded all 
bounds. It has now indeed palled be¬ 
yond the Rubicon. Some frefh remedy 
is called for, and that can only be found' 
in a legiflative union with Great Britain. 
In my following and concluding letter, 
I ftiall endeavour to give fome method to 
my thoughts upon that important mea- 
fure. 

I am, &c. &c. 


I 


; 


IRISH NATION, 


%99 


l 

Vl* * 

» - 

LETTER VII. 

' 

ON THE LEGISLATIVE UNION WITH 

r 

GREAT BRITAIN, 

/ ' . 

\ S "■ . ' ’ " 

1 

My dear Sir, 

» . * 

You have remarked in 
your anfwer to my laft letter, and I think 
your obfervation mod juft, that the 
prefent is an age of innovation, big with 

/ , • s 

portentous changes and events of an 

extraordinary nature. It is indeed fo; 

but whether for the eventual benefit of 

✓ 

mankind or not, is a problem too deep 

for our philofophy. The folution of that 

. ** 

queftion mull be left to an all-wife, 


3°o 


LETTERS ON THE 

though myfterious Providence. It is our 
part alone to profit by what is paffing 
before our eyes. Indeed it feems to me, 
that the man who can look tamely on, 
an unconcerned fpe&ator of the feene 
which is aCting before his eyes, muft 
poffefs that drow T fy ftupidity and torpid 
liftleflhefs of mind which feldom fall to 
the lot of human nature. There cannot 
be any excufe for fuch neglect* There is 
not any pretext for an individual’s thus 
collecting and folding himfelf up, as 
it w r ere, within a circle, with his own 

i 

private interefts and purfuits in the cen- 

' / * * 

tre. He is rather called upon to'confider 
himfelf as a link of that great chain 
which holds together fociety, and the 
order of the univerfe. Remove that link, 
and the chain becomes broken and imper¬ 
fect. In the clofe and compaCt union of 


I 


IRISH NATION. 30 £ 

the component parts of every fydem, its 
fafety, order, and harmony, will be found 
to confid. 

It is true, that the dorm which fo 
lately agitated the political horizon has 
fomewhat abated. We are a little more 
compofed, at lead in the North of 

* r / 

Europe. We are left at liberty, after the 
great danger is over, to contemplate the 
ravages of the temped, and devife means 
for our future fecurity. 

We may fee that it has fliaken old 
Europe to her lowed foundation. The 

States of Holland, France, and Italy, have 

» 

been fwallowed up in the earthquake, 
and the fhock has vibrated to the very 
heart of Great Britain and Ireland, 

t . ‘ f 

-Jam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam 

Volcano fuperante domus: jam proxumus ardct 
Ucalegon . 


/ 



* I 


30 z LETTERS ON THE 

You who have remained quietly at 

home under the protecting aegis of a Bri- 

> \ 

tifh Government, have not felt thofe fevere 
convulfions which have laid watte other 
kingdoms. England, like a tortoife in its 
ihell, as Livy has fomewhere remarked of 
Peloponnefus, found a fafe defence in 
that angry fea which furrounds her on 
all fides. The ftorm indeed flood fuf- 
pended over your heads, and ready to 
burft upon you. But at lafl it blew over, 
and poured its deftruCtive fury upon 

* r P 

Ireland. It has defolated' this unhappy 
country,' and laid wafte its richeft and 
mofl flourifliing provinces. Not even 
the foft myrtle has efcaped the fulphureous 
bolt which fplit the * unw T edgeable and 
gnarled oak.’ The aged and the infirm, 
the young and the defencelefs, perifhed in 
x one common ruin. Mothers in vain 


1 


IRISH NATION. 


3°3 


/ 

prefled their infants to their breads for 
protection. All fell in one undiftinguifh- 
able fcene of human carnage. I have 
vifited that unfortunate kingdom, which 
for an hundred miles in length is one 
continued vijia of fmoking ruins and de¬ 
flation. As I travelled on I could not 

« 

but exclaim, 

i 

- 4 Alas, poor country ! 

4 Almojl afraid, to know itfelf! It cannot 
* Be call’d a mother, but a grave : where nothing 
4 But who knows nothing is once Teen to fmile: 

4 Where fighs and groans, and Thrieksthat rend the air, 
4 Are made , not mark'd-, where violent forrow Teems 
4 A modern ecflafy : the dead man s knell 
4 Is there fcarce ajk'dfor whom: and good men’s lives 
4 Expire before the flowers in their caps, 

4 Dying or ere they ficken.’ 

And now, whilft the kingdom is im- 
preffcd with the lively fenfe of thefe 
miferies, whilft the embers of the late 

' a 

commotions are ftill warm, and whilft it 
is ftill fmarting under the green forenefs 



304 .LETTERS ON THE 

of its inteftine divifions; a Legiflative 

/ 

Union with Great Britain is propofed. 

i * I *s 

The mother country opens out her arms 

" * , • *■ 

to embrace and relieve the child which 

'• . V/' % ’ t it 

had deferted her. 

- 1 , \ 

I promifed to give you my fentiments 

j; % 

on this fubjeft; I cannot preface them by 

t ", 

any other remark than that the advantages 
of the propofal appear to me' fo manifeft 

1 

and obvious, that I cannot for a moment 
conceive that any thing but the moft 
abfurd national pride which difringuifhes 

. " t 

this people, on the perhaps frill more 
irremoveable fenfe of private intereft in¬ 
fluencing the ariftocracy of the country 
in oppofition to the public good, fhould 
induce a moment’s hefitation in accepting 
fuch an offer. I know that thefe two 
principles will do much, -but, I hope, 
not every thing. I am confident that 


IRISH NATION. 


3<*5 

intereft and vanity will create many 

obftacles in the way of the Union, but 

. 

I hope that they will not altogether pre* 
vent its completion. 

I trufl that the letters which I have 

1 

written from this countryhave not left 

* 

you altogether ignorant of the caufes 
which lead to the Union. It has been 
my objedl to give fome faint delineation 
of them. I know that it is a melancholy 
picture which I have Iketched, but I 
hope it is not altogether an unfaithful one. 
It has been to me a painful duty, which 
I owed to truth and juftice, to declare my 
opinion that the government is nothing 
but ‘ a painted and gilded tyranny;’ the 
eftablifhed religion an ‘ hard and fterii 
intolerance.’ I know that they are ar* 

t 

rayed in an unfuited magnificence, and 
covered over with the impofing robes of 

X 


✓ 


LEtTERS ON THE 


3° 6 

independence and freedom. But I have 
torn away the mafli, to difeover the real 
features. I have fhewn the nation di- 
vided into two parties, which, though 

t * 

they have fome features running through 
the whole, are yet in moft particulars as 
different as nations which go by different 
names. It muft by this time be obvi- 
ous to you, that the government wants 
all thofe balances and counterpoifes 
which ferve to fix the ftate, to give it 
a fteady direction, and to furnifh fure 
correctives to any violent fpirit that might 
at any time prevail;—that it is founded 
upon the fuccefsful violence of a profexib- 
ing, and tyrannical ariifocracy ;—that the 
lower clafs of people exhibit the moft. 
(hocking and difgufting fpeCtacle of men¬ 
dicancy ever beheld ;—that religion, 

inftead of drawing clofer the links. 
/ « 


i 


IRISH NATION. 307 

,*v ■ r » * , * s» 

of the great chain of creation—inftead of 

\ 

connecting man with man, and .man 

«*. ’ -s ' / 

with God—has proved the fource of 
the moft unparalleled miferies to Ireland. 

N 

I would fain be informed, by thofe gen¬ 
tlemen who are fuch ftaunch friends to 

the independence of Ireland, what- are 

/ * 

# f 

the fubftantial benefits which have been 
_ v » 
gained by that independence? It was 

Wrefted and ufurped from England in a 

moment of weaknefs and danger. In 

that ftorm in which Ireland deferted us, 

we loft America, ‘ the brighteft planet 

in our political orrery.’ I have always 

thought the advantages which even Ame- 

\ \; y 

rica gained by her independence were or 
a doubtful complexion. But the Irifh 
confthution of 1782 has not to my 
judgment the leaft evidence to bring 
forward in fupport of its; character and 

■ % , j 

X 2 - 


/ 


308 letters on the 

i 

merits. I would afik its friends, whether 
it did not confirm inflead of remove the 
tyrannic rule of a defpotic junto ?—- 
whether, when this growing branch was 

torn from the parent flock, the vicious 

*. 

fyflem of its internal policy w 7 as removed ? 

-—whether that fame mifery which drove 
hundreds of the famifhed peafantry to 
America, by the efforts of whofe defpair 
the revolt of the colonics proved fuc- 
ccfsful, does not flill continue a living 
monument of the defects of the govern¬ 
ment ? 

If theie things have indeed been all 

4 j 

clone, I lliould then become the fworn 
foe to an Union, which might injure, 
but could not improve the kingdom. 

But knowing that the fadt is otherwife, 

» 

and that the great defertion from the 

I ' 

country, even by its own landholders 




IRISH NATION. 309 

(who live in England, where they know 
that both their lives and property are 
fecure, which in Ireland are not fo, 
and who draw after them, out of the 
kingdom, perhaps a moiety, certainly a 

• ■ t r 

third of its annual rent)—knowing, I fay, 
that this emigration is the greatefl proof 
which can be had of the inefficacy of this 
independence towards infuring the prof- 
perity of Ireland, I cannot but concur 
moft heaitily in fupport of the Union 


* I fhall not enter into the much difcuffed queftion 
of the competency of the Irifh parliament to content 
to an Union. I fhall only obferve, that it is not ne- 
ceflary to maintain its competency by the dodlrine of 
what has been figuratively called 4 its Omnipotence.* 
The power of parliament muft be determined by a 
recurrence to the principle upon which all political 
power is founded, and that is Utility, or the public good. 
As upon this principle, the power alone depends; fo 
by it alone can that power be limited or controuled. 
For the fallacy of the arguments deduced horn all 
other fources by which the competency of the Irifh 
parliament has been aficrted. See 4 The Power of Par- 

x 3 


3 TO LETTERS ON THE 

1 

Let us trace thofe leading effects which 
muft obvioufly follow this grand meafure. 
We cannot but be firft ftrqck with 
that multiplication of common ftrength 

and means which will arife to the whole 

/ 

empire. Ireland will become an efficient 
portion of our military, commercial, and 
financial force, inftead of an expenfive 
and w r eak affociate. The aims of the 
French to feparate us will be completely 
cut off, and the ifland will be converted 
into a point of attack againft them, v 
inftead of a weak quarter at which they 
have always aflailed us. 

The ariftocracy alfo of the country* 
which has fo long oppreffed the people, 

will no longer be able to tyrannize ovef 

♦ 

liament eonfidered , 5 by ? Henry Maddock, jun. Efq. of 
the. Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.’ Thisfmall 
tra£t, if it does not convince, muft at leafb (hew the 
induftry, extenfiye reading, and ingenuity of th$ 
author. 


IRISH NATION. 3II 

/ * 

them. By the union of Scotland with 

— > 

England, the inferior ranks of people, fays 
an excellent judge *, ‘ gained a complete 

i 

delivery from the power of an ariftocracy 
which had always before oppreffed them/ 
But this ariftocracy is not like that which 
governed Scotland, ‘ founded in the na- 

k 

tural and refpectable diftin<ftion of birth 
and fortune/ but in the moft odious of 
all diftimftions, thofe of religious and 
political prejudices. It has grown into 

_ y 

manhood by means which have perpe- 

% 

tuallv entailed on it the public deteftation. 
The fyftem of confifcation by which it 
has been fed, has indeed been too much 
reforted to. It is a fyftem which much 
eloquence has been exerted in the defence 
of, but which can never refeue itfelf from 
/ 

' i ■ 


* Adam Smith. 


£12 LETTERS 053" THE 

the charge both of impolicy and iilhuma - 

nity. Inftead of deftroying the means of 

\ , 

future difturbances, and plucking them up 
by the roots, it makes enmities permanent, 
hereditary, and irremoveable. The caufes 
and fources of civil war are perpetuated. 
This is the principle which Thucydides la¬ 
ments the effects of in Greece, which the 
Latin hiftorians deplored in their own 
time, and Machiavel, many ages after i u 
the republic of Florence. It is now a • fa- 
lient living fpring’ of misfortunes to Ire¬ 
land. 

% 

The pooreft of the people are neither fo 

ignorant as not to know that the punifh- 

\ 

ments of their anceftors are entailed on 
their pofterity, or fo unfeeling as not to 
fmart under a fenfe of fuch injuftice. 
There is a fenfe of right and wrong, of 
juftice and injuftice, which is implanted 
by nature in the breads of the moft unci? 


IRISH NATION. 313 

\ 

vilizcd barbarians. ‘ Afk the moft until- 

s 

tored child whether the feed which the 
farmer fows in the earth is his own, 
and whether the robber who affaffinates 
him acquires thereby a juft title to it ? 
All the legiflators of the world will not 
give you a better anfwer.’ Neither can 

1 

any moral caufes altogether eradicate this 

\ 

principle of juftice, which the Almighty 
feems fo univerfally to have implanted 
amongft men. The Irifh peafant is con- 
feious of it, notwithftanding his humili- 
ated condition; ‘ notwithftanding the ele¬ 
phants of government arc treading him to 
death.’ It exifts therefore, it flourifhes * in 
fpite of all the paffions which combat it; 
jn fpite of thole tyrants who would drown 

< 1 

it in blood; in fpite of thofe impoftors 

who would extinguifh it in fuperftition 

\ 

* See Voltaire’s FJJuifur les mccurs. 


314 LETTERS ON THE 

From father to fon therefore is carefully 
tranfmitted a knowledge of the eftates 
which the family was formerly poflefled 
of. Each child, like a young Hannibal, 
feems fworn to die or to recover them. 
To refill this unextinguifhable fpirit of 
enmity, it is neceflary to refufe them all 
fhare in the government. A local arifto- 
cracy is obliged to opprefs them. But an 

% ' v t i i 

Union will fafely afford the means of re- 
dreffmg thefe long eftablifhed grievances. 
The benefits of the conftitution of Great 
Britain will be communicated to the 
pooreft cabin in Ireland. The people 
will emerge from their flavery into the 
dignity of a free nation. That govern¬ 
ment, the endeavour to overturn which 

/ N 

has coft them fo many rebellions and 
maffacres, will depart in peace. Harmo- 

i i * 

ny will be reftored to the kingdom, if 


i 


IRISH NATION. 


indeed it ever was in poffeffion of it. This 
grand object, the moft defirable of all 
others, will at leaft be certainly attained. 

2 . The effects of an Union on the go- 

♦ 

vernment are connected with thofe which 
it will have on the religious differences of 
the country. I do confefs, that I look 
forward to the moft important advantages 
in this point of view. Civilization, with 
her attendant, fcience, will fteal into the 
hearts of the great mafs of the people, 

9 * • . 

and banifli that grofs fuperftition which 
has fo long held an empire over them. 
There is no antidote to this gloomy poifon 
of the mind, fo effectual as the wide 
diffufion of education. From this fprings 
up a generous liberality of fentiment. 
By this is removed all the mean and all 

the felfifh pafflons. This it is which 

✓ 

fpreads far and wide a noble and expanded 


31 6 LETTERS ON THE 

view of that great chain which connects 
man with his fellow creatures. It is the 
parent of philanthropy and univerfal 
benevolence. The heart, in confcquence 
of education, expands its affections from 
the objeCts at the family fire fide, ‘ firft to 
its native country/ and * next to all the 

human race.’ Intolerance flies before it, 

4 \ 

and like a coward fkulks and conceals 
itfclf in the { cell of the monk, or in the 

i 

breaft of the inquifitor/ 

t / 

If education thus takes wing, bigotry 
will be removed, that felfifh paffion which 
perfuades man that he alone is made 
for heaven and heaven for him. In the 
place of it, toleration will be eftablifhed, 
not only an advantage in itfelf, but alfo in 

its political confequences. Our conftitu- 

% 

tion will receive material improvement. 
Whilft true Chriflianity will be enjoyed 


IRISH NATION. 317 

as a bleffing, and as that mild and humble 
religion which it originally was fent from 
heaven, even the political interefts of its 
different feftarifts will be preferved, 
without the tyranny of any one body, 
or the oppreffion of the others. That in¬ 
flux of Catholic pow T er, which under the 
Conftitution of 1785 would be fubverfive 
of the Proteftant intereft, will by an 
Union be attended with no danger of 
that fort. It will add to our balance of 
civil power a balance of religious inter eft 

\ S. 

and our government of check and con- 
troul will be thereby perfected and com¬ 
pleted. I truft that by it the tripod of 
the Conftitution will ftand upon a ftill 
more firm, fixed, and immoveable bafis 
than even it now does. Government and 

' v • 

Religion ought to coincide in a tendency 

to make good citizens. In Ireland they 

« 

( 

K ' 1 

/ * 1 


t 


LETTERS ON THE 


do not. When the tendency of religion 

i 

in the leaft deviates from the end of 
making good fubjeCts; the tendency of the 
government towards that objeCt ought 
to be firengthened. The caufe of the 

Union may be retted upon that argument 

% 

alone. In that fmgle point of view I 
think all men will agree in its expediency. 

3. Its advantages to the wealth of the 
countrv cannot from their nature be made 

J 

the fubjeft of computation, but the molt 
feriguine expectations may well be in^ 
dulged on that head. It is certain that 
agriculture will be much benefited. Thofe 

N 

# ( /■ . 

means by which England has raifed the 

r 

irate of its agriculture to the height and 
perfection which it now enjoys, will by an 
Union be communicated to Ireland. The 
lcgillative encouragement of the one 
country will be extended to the other 
- 6 . 


IRISH NATION, 


319 

and I augur the mod happy effects from 
them. I figure to myfeif thoulands of 
the poor of Ireland receiving employment 
and food from the increafe of tillage lands. 
By increafing the dock of indudry in this 
channel alone, the wealth and happinefs > 
of the people and the power and finances 
of the government will be greatly im¬ 
proved. But when we come to add 
the weight of Britifh capital into the 
dale, the effects mud promife to be 
mod cxtcniivcly beneficial. 

This cannot but be attracted over by 
the fecurity which it before wanted and 
will then have received. Every road to 
profitable fpeculation in Great Britain 
has been long filled with adventurers, 
and this notwithdanding the infinity of 
modes in which it is exerted. Ireland, 

after the Union, offers a new field to the 

/ • 

... . ■ 


I 


/ 


320 letters ON THE 

*1 

merchant, and no doubt can be enter¬ 
tained that it will be inllantly occupied- 
The genius of fpeculation can never leave 
unattempted fo fair a profpecl of advan¬ 
tage. With the convenience of ports and 

\ 

navigable rivers, but what is perhaps above 

all, with the excellent fituation of Ireland 

\ 

, " 1 < 

for a trans-Atlantic trade, it mutt become 

the emporium of the produce of the 

New World. 

' • / 

This influx of capital will in a propor¬ 
tionate degree increafe the ftock of public 
induftry, and animate the agricultural and 
commercial interefts. In a few years 
one of the happy fruits of this will be, 
that we Ihall not only fee Britifli fubjeils 
fettling in Ireland to enjoy the advantages 

of her ports, her havens, and her natural 

, * \ 

wealth ; but we fliall find a period put to 
that annual emigration of thoufands of 

1 1 

» 

Irifh fubje&s, thofe children of fortune, or 

' , , * 

• \ 


/ 


IRISH NATION, 32I 

« 

rather of misfortune, who for want of 
encouragement to remain at home, have, 
like the Jews in deftiny, been for fo many 
years difperfed and fcattered over the face 
of the European world, the hirelings 
of the ambitious and powerful, or the 
drudges of the mercenary part of man¬ 
kind. 

Foreign trade can alone create opulent 
mercantile communities and corporations. 
The example of England has lhewn the 
advantages which thefe produce both to 

the caufe of liberty and civilization. They 

\ 

alone can check and controul the en¬ 
croachments and oppreffions of the go¬ 
vernment. They alone can form a ba¬ 
lance againft that ariftocracy which the 
landed interefi: of every nation has a 
natural tendency to produce. Foreign 
trade, by eftablifhing powerful mercantile 

• *’ Y 
\ 


LETTERS ON THE 


3 2 % 

corporations, creates a rival influence to 
the wealth and power of the nobility. 
The commons of England have by thefe 
means rifen into notice, and gradually 
formed themfelves into the moft conli- 
derable branch of the legiflature. 

It is a miftaken and Machiavelian po- 

1 v \ ' .0 ^ ^ 

licy upon which the Irifh government 

has been hitherto permitted to proceed. 
It has been conceived that thofe fuper- 
fiuous hands which Great Britain employs 
in foreign trade, are in Ireland made fub- 
fervient to the greatnefs of the ftate, by 
affording an inexhauftible fupply to our 
fleets and armies. But nothing is fo eafy 
as to prove that this policy is not only 
violent and barbarous, but even erroneous 

i 

and abfurd. The more labour is em¬ 
ployed beyond the mere neceflaries of life, 
the more powerful is the ftate; fmce the 


IRISH NATION. 323 

perfoils engaged in that labour may be 

eafily converted to the public fervice. 

By impofing a tax, the people are obliged 

to retrench in fome of thofe fuperfluities 

which they can beft difpenfe with. 

Thofe whofe labour has been employed 

about thefe luxuries muft either enlift 

in the troops, or, by turning themfelves 

to agriculture, thereby oblige fome labour- 
, , ' 
ers to enlift for want of employment 

Thus does a fovereign raife an army or 
man a fleet. By this principle, the lading 
happinefs of the fubjeft is not facrificed to 
the mere temporary greatnefs of the ftate, 
but made to coincide with it. Govern¬ 
ments not only find their interefts pro¬ 
moted by thefe means, but muft invaria¬ 
bly difcover that their real ftrength alto¬ 
gether depends on them. Commerce, 

* Hume’s Effay on commerce. 

1 ' . s 

y 2 


324 LETTERS ON THE 

t 

which affords fubfiftence to great numbers 
of fubjefts, thereby increafes the popula¬ 
tion of the country, and the wealth of the 
revenues. When I have confidered thefe 
things, I have been at a lofs to difcover 
how the real interefk of Ireland could 
have been fo long unattended to. I 
have wondered how that Spartan policy 
of building the greatnefs of the ftate 

. ’ * i y 

on the poverty of the people could have 
been fo long pradlifed by a great com¬ 
mercial nation. Thofe brave troops who 

i 

have recruited our armies from Ireland, 

0 

l ( r . J 

would, if commerce had been extended 

i ' 

over it, have been doubled in their num¬ 
bers by that increafe of the population 
which muff have enfued, becaufe inva¬ 
riably the effedl of this policy. 

One confiderable effect which muff 
alfo enfue from thefe means, if by an 


t 


IRISH NATION. 325 

Union they are carried into execution, 
will be the lowering the intereft of money 
in Ireland. There is no greater proof of 

H I 

^ \ 

the poverty of a nation than the high rate 
of intereft. But the increafe of induftry 
and commerce will remove the circumftan- 
ces from which high intereft for the loan 
of money is invariably found to proceed. 
They will leffen the demand for borrow¬ 
ing, and they will afford greater riches to 
fupply that demand. Plenty is always 
found to diminish the value of money. 

There is no truer maxim of policy than 
that to make a people richer is the way 
to make fubjefts happier, and the ftate 
more powerful. If the Union therefore 
is to be confidered as an alliance of proper¬ 
ty, a marriage * cum pondere et libris/ in 
which the value of the dowry is alone to 

1 

be looked to; it is impoflible that the 

y 3 


3^6 LETTERS ON THE 

objection can be on the part of Ireland. 
A wealthy fuitor offers his hand, and all 
the inducements of riches operate in a 
ten-fold degree. Ireland is miferably 
poor ; thoufands living in a Rate without 
induflry muff neceffarily exhaufl it. Ruf- 
fia has emerged from barbarity in propor¬ 
tion as commerce has extended itfelf there. 
The fame effects muff arife from fimilar 

caufes in Ireland. An alliance of the 

1 1 * 

richeft and moft commercial country in 
Europe, with one that is perhaps without 
exception the pooreft, muff raife its prof- 
perity to a level with the height of that 
of the fuperior Rate with wfiich it unites. 

4. I truR that the hiifory of Irifh re¬ 
bellions will alfo by this meafure receive 

\ V 

a final period. The oppreffions of go¬ 
vernment will be removed, the progrefs 
of Jacobinifm checked, and the prejudices 


IRISH NATION. 


327 


of religion eradicated by the flow but 

certain progrefs of civilization. ‘ Ls Com - 

\ • _ ' * 

meres ^fays Montefquieu) guirit des pre - 

juges dejtrudleurs .’ When an enlightened 
method of confidering religion is intro¬ 
duced and ordained by the ftate, no man 
will be perfecuted for his fcruples of con- 
fcience. Peace and brotherly love will be 
reftored to a country which for many 
centuries at leafl: has been a ftranger to 
it, and amidft this fmiling feene of gene¬ 
ral joy and happinefs— 

-“ Every man fhall eat in fafety 

Under his own vine what he plants, and ling 
The merry fongs of peace to all his neighbours.” 

A Legiflative Union recommended by 

** | 

fuch important advantages to Ireland, I 
think, cannot require any farther argu¬ 
ment in fupport of it. As far as my own 
obfervation and experience in the country 

Y 4 



3^8 LETTERS ON THE 

go, the benefits which I have enumerated 

' , \ 

mull enfue. Great Britain will alfo rer 
ceive her proportionate fhare in the com¬ 
mon profperity : Nequefuse folum auxilium 
petit faint Is, fed conjundtim. An Union, 
whilft it promifes to Ireland the folid be¬ 
nefits of law and policy, of trade and 
manufacture, of arts and fciences, will, 
by the acceffion of ftrength, render Great 
Britain equal to the weight of a powerful 
empire, and of the contefts in which it 
may be engaged. It will raife a power¬ 
ful coloffus, which, refting one foot upon 
the Irifh fhore, and the other upon Bri- 
tifh foil, whilft it beftrides the interme¬ 
diate channel, fhall ftrike terror into our 
enemies, and be fully able to cope with 
that € tremendous fpedtre which has 

ftalked out of the tomb of the murdered 

* . ' * 

monarchy of France*.’ It will inforce our 


* Burke. 


IRISH NATION. 


3^9 


juft claims to be confidered the mediators 
and arbiters of Europe. Whether the 
interefted fpeculations of Great Britain 
on her part, prove fallacious or juft; ftill 
it muft be owned that they are equitably 
entertained. The fleets of Great Britain 

'*/ 'i 

are manned and fitted out, and victualled 

'J 

by the powerful affiftance of Ireland. 
‘ A multiplication of thefe refources is 
therefore juftly defirable. But is it not 
evident that this increafe in the po¬ 
pulation and produce of Ireland which 

is aimed at by the Union, is much more 

\ 

materially benefiting that country than 
the nation which promotes them ? The 
reafon is obvious. National ftrength and 
refources are folely obtained by Great 
Britain: but Ireland, at the fame time 
that file partakes of thefe, together with 
;tlie protection and glory which attend 


\ 


33O LETTERS ON THE 

/ , 

them, enjoys in addition, a multiplication 

of all the neceffaries, comforts, and luxuries 

« 

of life. The queftion is the fame in fome 

✓ 

refpects as between the market and the 
confumer. To the latter the induftry of 
the former is but a tranfient advantage; 
but to the market accrue all that wealth 
and diverfity of benefits which fuccefsful 
labour affords. 

The fubfifting connection between 
Great Britain and Ireland is weak, im¬ 
perfect, and ill cemented. I cannot but 
confefs that I have long looked upon 
the prefent government of the two king¬ 
doms as a fort of double-headed monfter. 
It is fuch a political Cerberus as hiftory, 
whether civil or natural, never deferibed. 
It is only fit to adorn the mufeum of a 

virtuofo, or one of the pigeon-holes of the 

✓ ' 

Abbe Sieyes. If the interefts of the two 


1 


t 


IRISH NATION. 331 

kingdoms have (as is univerfally agreed) 
been long united, I affert that it is impoffi- 
ble for that community of interefts to be 

« 1 * 

well governed by councils feparate and 
independent of each other. This part- 
nerfhip of property fhould be directed by 
an authority wholly entire and undivided. 
I would allow it as many faces as Janus, 
as many eyes as Argus, and as many 
hands as Briareus ; but it fhould only be 
directed by one head. Hitherto we have 
had in Ireland an unwieldy and ill-con- 
flru&ed, and then a wounded and crippled 
body to drag after, rather than to aid its. 
We cannot both profper unlefs infpired 
by the virtue, guided by the wifdom, and 
commanded by the word, of one legifla- 

ture. I had rather that a common fupe- 

« 

rior lhould be chofen by the neighing of 
horfes, or the calling of lots, than that we 
fhould remain thus divided. 




V 


333 LETTERS G]N THE 

Experience has demonftrated the ad¬ 
vantages of the union of ftates, confidered 
as an abftraft queftion. The Romans 
gained the world by union amongft them- 
felves and with other nations. Their 
enemies loft their liberties by divifions 
amongft therpfelves and w r ith each other. 
Wherever the Roman foldier conquered, 
he made friends and citizens for his coun¬ 
try. I will not urge the union of the 
Provinces of Holland againft Philip the 
Second, or of the States of America 
againft George the Third. They have 

been fufficiently commented upon, toge- 

/ 

ther with the more remote examples from 7 
our hiftory, of the Heptarchy, of our 
Union with Wales, and laftly of that 

with Scotland, We fliall find that the 

\ 

fame principle has been invariably attend¬ 
ed with fimilar advantages both in ancient 






IRISH NATION. 


333 


and modern hiftory. Had it been ftill 
more confulted, the page of hiftory would 
not be fo full of the miferies of nations. 
Swifferland would now have been in 
poffeffion of its liberty, if the cantons had 
been firmly united. Germany, though a 
great and powerful empire, would yet, if 
better united under one head, be the dread 
and envy of Europe. At prefent the dif- 
putes of the different ftates have tended 
to weaken the whole, and to fubjecft it to 
the infults and attacks of foreign powers. 
I might thus run through the whole lift 
of European kingdoms, and I am fure 

I fhould find in the hiftory of each of 

/ 

them fome argument drawn from its 
experience in favour of union. Italy has 
long been a dreadful example of the 
want of Union. If a firm co-operation 

i * * • 

bad taken place, it is probable, that Ihe 




< 


334 LETTERS ON THE 

would never have been the prey of her 

formidable Gallic neighbour. How often 

«* 

is this leffon inculcated in the writings of 
the politic Machiavel? How much, and 
yet how fruitlefsly has he deplored the dis¬ 
union of the different ftates of Italy, as¬ 
cribing it to the ambitious aim of the fee 
of Rome after temporal power*? But 
in latter times this ambitious Spirit has not 
cxifted, and yet their union has never 

t ' N 

taken place. Spain too was formerly dif- 
tra£led by a number of independent ftates 
and principalities within its domain. The 
union of the kingdoms of Caftile and 
Arragon, by the marriage of Ifabel and 

i 

Ferdinand, removed much of this evil. 
The confequence of this happy union was 


* Machiav. Difcorfi, 1. i. c. xii. and Delie Hiflo- 
rie Fiorent. 1 . i. 

\ 


>’ 


i 


IRISH NATION* 335 

f 

the overturning of the kingdom of the 
Saracens, which had maintained its ground 
in Spain for a period of ^00 years. 
From this event the rife of the greatnefs 

of the Spanifh monarchy may be dated. 

\ 

It is well knoWn to what power it rofe 

under Charles the Fifth. The liberties of 

* 

Europe were confidered in danger. But 
the union of the States of Flanders during 
the reigns of his two fucceffors was the 
means of preferving Europe. The inde¬ 
pendence of Holland was achieved by the 

bravery of the Dutch, the wifdom of their 

/ 

burgomafters, and the union of their feve- 
ral provinces in one common caufe. The 
independence of Portugal completed the 
decline of the Spanifh monarchy. 

Thus we fee that union was the means 
of raifing the Spanifh power, and the 
negledt of continuing that fyflem the caufe 


\ 


336 LETTERS ON THE 

• ' A 

of its decay. By feizing this neglected 
principle, the Spanifh Netherlands and 
Holland recovered their liberties, and the 
balance of power in Europe was once 
more preferred. 

1 

But if we look into the hiftory of the 
more northern ftates of Europe, we fhall 
find a cafe more exactly in point. I allude 
to the famous conftitution of Calmar, in 
j 397, by which the three kingdoms of 
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, were 

* 

united, and confolidated into one under 
Margaret, the Semiramis of the North. 
Had this union continued in force, inftead 
of being diffolved by the jealoufies and 
diflenfions of the feveral members of it, 
the fplendour of the North of Europe 
would not have fo declined. Thefe three 

1 ■* \ 

kingdoms have been lefs noticed by philo- 
fophers than even their prefent infignifi- 


/ 


IRISH NATION. 


337 


cance will warrant. It is well known that 
the brave aflertors of the liberties of the 
world iifued from thefe frozen climes, 
and overturned the gigantic fabric of 
Roman defpotifm. Liberty was born the 
hardy child of the North, and has always 
proved faithful to and worthy of her 
origin. All the free governments of Eu¬ 
rope may trace their defcent from a Gothic 
root. In their feveral hiftories many arl 
important leffon may be read to illuftrate 
the propofition with which I fet out, 
that the Union of the three kingdoms of 
England, Scotland, and Ireland, cannot be 
too much recommended. If the union 
of Calmar had continued in force, inftead 
of diflolving by the banifliment of Chrif- 
tian the Second in 1523, thofe three 
northern kingdoms would have anticipate 

Z 


338 LETTERS ON THE 

ed our claims to be confidered the politi¬ 
cal arbiters of Europe. 

I think it has been fufficiently proved, 
that the connection between the two 
countries has been hitherto raw and ill- 

'• i 

cemented—That the conflitution of 1783, 
leaving the Angle tie of a common Exe¬ 
cutive Power, is not that fort of union 
which hiftory has often prefented cafes of 
between other Hates. In thofe cafes 
there were no independent legiflative 
bodies invefted with that great power 
which refults from the principles of a 
Britilh conflitution, to fetter and clog 
the beneficial operation of their union 

under one monarch. The prince was 

■ 

generally in thofe cafes invefted both with 

^ c * - ( , ", , - X * 

the legiflative and executive powers, or 
with that fort of influence which virtually 
gave them to him. But the power of 


IRISH NATION. 


339 


the King of Great Britain is not fufficient 
to oblige the ariftocracy of Ireland to bow 
down the ftubborn neck of its pride and 
ambition to the yoke of moderation and 

virtue. Neither has their fuccefsful refift- 

1 > 

ance been founded on any confidence 
which the people might have in them. I 
am perfuaded that the Parliament does 
not pofTefs the good opinion and confi¬ 
dence of the people. The difcontents of 
the people are too loud to imagine the 
contrary. We do not fee them obedient 
to the laws, profperous in their induftry, 
or indeed poflefled of any fpirit of induftry 
at all. We cannot fay that they are united 
at home, when we fee diflenfions in all 
parts of the kingdom, and an univerfal 
fpirit of diftruft and diflatisfadtion. We 
have feen the authority of the Parliameitt 
contcfted, by a powerful rebellion, almoft 

Z 2 


34 ° LETTERS ON THE 

* » / 

at the very doors of the Senate Houfe* 
And though I am one of thofe who are 
firmly perfuaded that parties are of great 
advantage to a free ftate, . yet it is not 
thofe divifions which prevail in Ireland, it 

V ? V / 

is not fuch factions as thofe of the Orange 
and the United Irifhmen, that merit this 
approbation. Neither do I infer from 
hence, that where the people are difcon- 
tented, the government muft neceffarily 
be bad. I am not fo fanguine an admirer 
of the popular part of a ftate as to transfer 
to it that maxim of the Englifh confuta¬ 
tion applicable to the regal, that it * can 
do no wrong .’ I will even concede that 
the people of Ireland have frequently 

acfted moft outrageoufly. But I muft 

/ ' 

infift, that in all difputes with them and 

- x i 

their rulers, the prefumption is at leaft 

. b 

upon a par in favour of the people. ‘ Ex- 


IRISH NATION. 


S4i 


perience (to borrow the obfervation of a 
zealous champion* of ariftocracies) may 
perhaps juftify me in going much farther. 
Where popular difcontents have been very 

prevalent; it may well be affirmed and 

\ 

fupported, that there has been generally 
fomething found amifs in the conflitution, 
or in the conduct of government. The 
people have no interefi in diforder:— 
when they do wrong, it is their error, and 
not their crime. But with the governing 
part of a ftate it is far otherwife. They 
certainly may ad; ill by defign, as well 
as by miftake.’ ‘ Les revolutions qui ar- 

% v / 

rivent dans les grands etats nc font point tin 
ejfeffi dit hazard , ni du caprice des peuples . 
Rlen ne revolte les grands d un royaume com - 
me un gouvernment foible et derange . Pour 
la populace , ce n ef jamais par envie d'at- 


* Burke, Vol. I. p. 416. 4to. edit, of his Works. 



34 ^ LETTERS ON THE 

i 

taquer qiielle fe fouleve, mats par impa¬ 
tience de Joujj'rlr 

Such are the opinions of two great 
men, who capnot be fufpedted of any 
inclination to take the part of the people 
againft their lawful rulers. The queftion 
then is as to the proper remedy, and I 
affert that this can only be found in a 
Legiflative Union with Great Britain. 
This will unite the people amongft them- 

• i 

felves, will eradicate their feuds, and 
* foften, blend, and harmonize, the colours 
of that melancholy picture which Ireland 
has hitherto prefented.’ It will remove 

s 

thofe internal factions which are more 
deftrudlive than war, famine, peftilence, 
or any of the evils which offended Heaven 
inflidts on the human race—That arifto- 


* 


* Mem. de Sully, Vol. I. p. 133, 


I 


IRISH NATION. 343 

. r 

cracy which has fprung out of England 
colonization, but which has long loft all 
traces of that generofity, humanity, and 
dignity of mind which characterifed the 
nation from which they derive their pedi¬ 
gree, will recover thofe loft traits of Eng- 
lifh character. * The child will then affi- 
milate to its parent, and reflect with true 
filial piety the beauteous countenance of 
Britifli liberty.’ If a common language re- 

1 

ceives the aid of an equal government, it 
rrmft unite by degrees the moft widely 
diftant characters. 

I have often repeated, that there is 
much energy in the Irifh character. There 
is confequently much matter to w r ork 

1 

upon. The energies of the moral world 

equally afford the means of grand im- 

* 

provements and important purpofes of 
utility as thofe of the material. As natural 

7j 4 


344 


LETTERS ON THE 


philofophers direct the active properties 
of air or water, fo will wife ftatefmen 

thofe latent energies which are found in 

* . - . * ..... 

-mankind. A prudent legiflature will 
tame their wild nature, fubdue them to. 

r‘- “ I 

ufe, and render them the moft powerful 

«r 

and moft tractable agents in fubfervience 
to great views and great defigns. But 
the legiflators of Ireland have hitherto 
been labouring at the wrong end. They 
have been fatisfied with endeavouring to 
curb the conduct, inftead of attempting to 
mould the difpofition and character. 
When the influence of civilization was 
only wanting, they were hanging out the 
law in all its gloomy terrors. They 
appear to have been unaware of the 

danger of fwelling the code of criminal 

\ 

juftice in the country. They feem to 
have been unapprized that laws fhould 

/ 

i 

i % 

4 


i 


IRISH NATION. 343 

grow out of the character and fentiments 
of a people, and not be impofed in direct 
contradiction and oppoftion to tliem. 
They have not appeared fenfible that 
though human laws may often corred 
the outward excefs, yet they can never 
form the inward principle— c Serendi funt 
mores/ was the emphatic expreffion of 
Cicero on this fubjed. Penal ftatutes 

* 1 

may fometimes curb the overt a d, but 
they cannot reach the heart. It remains 

t 

therefore to be feen whether the combin¬ 
ed legiflative wifdom of both kingdoms 

will not adopt a different line of conduct. 

/ # 

I have taken fome pains to colled: the 
fentiments of the people of Ireland, upon 
the fubjed of this propofed Union. I am 
happy to find a great majority in favour 

of it. It mult of courfe be expeded that 

* 

$dl the fcditious and traiteroufly difpofed 


f 


V 


34 *> LETTERS ON THE 

partizans of France, the remnants of re¬ 
bellion, the fociety of United Iriflimen, 
who would wifh to fubjeCl their country 
to the ambitious views of their French 
neighbour, are irreconcileable enemies to 
the Union. But amongft the well- 
wifhers to their fovereign and to the 

Britifh connection, the number of enemies 

. ' - \ 

to the meafure is very fmall. The 
Catholics are decided friends and fupport- 
ers of the meafure, in fpite of the remon- 
ftrances of a few difcontented individuals 
who affume the voice of the whole 

-I k ■* • ’ ' 

\ 

Catholic body. I have had many oppor¬ 
tunities, fince I have been in Ireland, of 
afcertaining this faCl. In travelling 
through the fouth-eafl of the country, the 
fpot where the rebellion moft raged, I 
had frequent opportunities of hearing the 
fentiments of the peafantry of Wicklow 




IRISH NATION. 


347 


and Wexford on the ftate of affairs. 
They all profefs as much hatred now 
againft thofe men who mitigated them 
to take up arms, as they formerly did 
againft the Proteftant ariftocracy of the 
country. It feems alfo to be their unani¬ 
mous opinion, that an Union holds out 
the profpeft of effectual relief to them. 

The chief oppofition to the meafure 
will be that of the capital. The people 
of Dublin are generally inimical to it, 
from motives of intereft and pride. Some 
of them confider that the commercial 
greatnefs of the city will be foon eclipfed 
by Cork and Waterford, which are more 
advantageoufly fituated for trade, and en¬ 
joy better harbours. But the intereft of 
Dublin muft give way to that of the 
kingdom at large. This is fuppofing 
that it really will fuffer in the event of an 

< ’ i . 

3 


r 


348 LETTERS ON THE 

Union, which is however by no means a 
point agreed on by all parties. 

The diffipation of the capital will un- 

I 

doubtedly be diminifhed, but not the 
induftry and commerce of it. It is faid 
that the removal of the legiflature will 
injure the city, but thofe who urge this 
argument are unacquainted with the real 
fources of the wealth of a city. It is 

N 

only the removal of men whofe fortunes 
are engaged in trade that hurts a place, 
by diminifhing the capital which puts 

induftry into motion. i Thofe who live 
* ' ^ * *' 
upon their private fortunes (fays the au¬ 
thor of the Wealth of Nations) are idlers, 
and contribute little towards the riches 
of a metropolis.’ If we loot to all the 
capitals of Europe we fliall find them 
poor, unlefs they derive their wealth from 
commerce. The trade of Paris is trifling, 


IRISH NATION. ' 249 

and all the parliament towns in France 
before the revolution were miferably poor. 
c It is the fame with Madrid, Vienna, and 
Home, where the falfe glitter of a few 
dilproportionately rich individuals makes 
, amends for the poverty of the bulk of the 
people.’ Dublin therefore will not be 

i 

injured by the feat of legiflature being 
removed to London. It is impolfible 
that it Ihould be otherwife. c Let any 

man (continues Adam Smith) who doubts 

/ ) 

of this, compare the iituation of Edin¬ 
burgh before the Union, when it was the 

%■ 

refidence of its ariltocracy, with w T hat it 
is now, fince it has ceafed to be the 
neceflary refidence of the principal nobi- 

• i 

lity and gentry of Scotland.’ 

As for that oppofition which may arife 
from the pride and vanity of any part of 
the Irilh nation, it would be abfurd that 

• . 

■ ■ • * • • r' 



< 


35 ® LETTERS ON THE 

it fhould ftand in the way of the meafure. 
Trifling points of honour fhould not keep 
us afunder, but rather in their adjuflment 
conjoin us ftill more clofely together. 
They fhould not form obftacles to an 
Union, but as it were clafps and hinges to 
it. They fhould conftitute a contigna- 
tion which will link the two edifices to- 

I do confefs, my dear friend, that I look 
forward with peculiar pleafure to this 
meafure, which fhall unite the hitherto 
difcordant members of our political great- 
nefs; w r hich fhall unite all ranks of men, 
and rally them round the throne. If an 
army lhould be under the command of 
one general, d fortiori fhould two nations 

i 

under fuch circumftances as Great Britain 
and Ireland be under the full command of 
one entire fovereign authority. Ireland 
is' the right arm of our empire: but 



\ 


IRISH NATION. 35I 

now it feems as if the two hands defigned 
by nature for reciprocal affiftance and co¬ 
operation were continually impeding and 
baffling each other; as unfortunate as if 
the two feet fhould entangle and trip up 
the natural body. We cannot both prof- 
per under a divided government. It 

f . ' F n 

would be equally poffible (or rather im- 
poffible) for the human body, though 
compofed of different members, whofe 
offices are different, to be therefore govern¬ 
ed by the influence of more then one 
mind. We muff be firmly interwoven 

and knit together in a bond of conne&ion, 

' 

which fhall be broad, comprehenfive, and 

indiffoluble. We fhall then poffefs all 
»#•*.* ' » 

that combination, and all that oppofition 

of interefts; all that action and counter 
action which in the political as well as in 
the natural world, from the ‘ reciprocal 


353 LETTERS ON THE 

\ 

ftruggle of difcordant powers^’ draws 
out the harmony of the univerfe* 

This mafter-piece of politics, which 
was the darling project of the illuftrious 
Lord Chatham, will be carried into execu¬ 
tion by his ft ill greater fon and fucceflor. 
He is an active and penetrating miniftcr, 

whofe motives I fmcerely believe to be 

/ 

patriotic and difinterefted. If his love for 
his country, and his exertions in its behalf, 
are not fhewn in the manner which fome 

individuals would defire, and according to 

\ 

their fafhions of thinking and ailing, it 
remains for pofterity to determine which 
is in the right. They will have before 
them that experience of the effects of his 
meafures, which is at prefent hid in the 
womb of futurity. As for ourfelves, we 
are incapable of penetrating into it. Our 
Ihortfighted impatience may indeed com- 


/ 




IRISH NATION. 353 

plain, but it cannot properly judge of 
his conduct. 

If Providence in its wifdom lhould or¬ 
dain that the exertions of this minifter 

i 

are to be crowned with fuccefs: if to the 
political falvation of Europe which he 
promifes to effect (and in which if he 
fails it will only be from the want of 
proper fupport, and not from any defi¬ 
ciency in his own natural energies): if to 
this any frefh glory can be added, or any 
frefh laurels be gained, it will refult from 
this meafure of an Union. The alliance 
of the three kingdoms, of England, Scot¬ 
land, and Ireland, will be then firm, when 
their purfuits and averfions are invariably 
directed towards the fame objeCts. We 
fhall be then all equally fheltered under 
the canopy of a common caufe. Our 

connection will be then clofe and indiflb- 

\ 1 

Aa 


354 LETTERS, &C. 

luble; a confolidation of force, which 
fhall combine us with a degree of cohefion 
and firmnefs, before unknown, into one 
mighty body, informed by one foul. 
Our reciprocal interefts will reft on the 
firm pillars of Juftice, Religion, Council, 
and Treafure. National and local diftinc- 
tions, prejudices and grievances, will be 
removed; no ftings of refentment will be 
left to rankle in the hearts of a fullering 
party; all will be melted and blended 
into one great people, and then at length 
fhall we be able to exclaim with joy and 
triumph on both fides of the Irifti fea— 
CUNCTI GENS SUMUS UNA ! 

I remain, dear Sir, 

Yours, &c. &c v 

THE END. 

•* 1 * fc J 5 C ’ 


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